My lemon tree (hopefully still in the making)

It’s the end of winter! And here comes SPRING! So, with gardeners all over preparing to don their gear to get their gardens looking tip top, I thought I must do the same. It has been raining a fair bit lately and I wondered how my lemon tree have been faring. So I wandered out on the weekend to have a look. To my dismay, it looked just wretched. It had lost even MORE of its leaves since I last checked and the remaining ones still looked yellowy. This was despite me giving it the “iron chelate” treatment. If I could, I would have scooped my lemon tree up into my arms and driven it straight to the Emergency department and into ICU. But obviously, that was not going to happen.

dr sze wey lee lemon tree
my sorry looking lemon tree

This was not looking good. Not good at all. Of course, I didn’t exactly do a sterling job in tree selection, location and soil preparation but I had hoped that it will turn the corner and pull through. Now all that looks dicier than ever before. In catching up with friends over winter, I have picked up more tips from them on planting and growing lemon trees. (One actually gave me the “what were you thinking look” when I told her I chose the lemon tree from the nursery that had the MOST lemons hanging off it.)

Since I can’t fix what I bought and where it’s planted, the only lever I have left to pull is giving lots and lots of TLC. And I am willing to try anything. It’s a bit like having a cough that refuses to go away. You throw the kitchen sink at it. So, going through the tips I had received and ticking them off, there were a couple of zany one’s left.

We both had nothing to lose so after making up another batch of fertilizer and dousing the tree with it, I got straight onto them. The first called for rust and lots of it. Apparently that helps with iron deficiency! So I scoured around the house for anything rusty from old nails to old iron fittings. When I had what I thought was enough, I dug up the ground around the tree and buried the whole lot!

rust
iron remedy using rust

Next tip required cooperation from the boys. Some people swear by this. I was not so sure but I was in no position to question. Besides time might be of the essence here. So, I gently suggested to the boys to consider the lemon tree when they have to go use the toilet. It will benefit the lemon tree greatly I said. Of course, all of a sudden, they began to worry what our neighbours would think. That never came up before when they had their crazy antics in the garden. So I swatted them down and said JUST DO IT.

Spring starts next week so we will see how all of this go. This I have a feeling will be my last chance . . fingers crossed.

Tell me what you think!

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