Diary of a weekend gardener

A treat for the lemon tree

A few weeks ago I tied down the one strong shoot on the lemon tree to almost horizontal. I picked this tip up from college as a way to make plants branch out, rather than keep sending one shoot upwards (in horticultural terms it's a way of overcoming apical dominance). While sitting in the conservatory nursing my cold I noticed a new side shoot on the horizontal branch and a few more elsewhere. So as a little reward to it, I've sponged off all the scale insect and given it a misting. It was otherwise in the last chance saloon -next stop the compost heap. I'll give it a top dressing at the weekend and see how it goes this summer. It took my mind of the dripping nose anyway.

posted by Sue Beesley @ 2:57 pm