Garden Update: Winter Lemon Buds

My citrus "orchard" has been decidedly lacklustre since this photo back in March.  

The dwarf Meyer lemon has made a few attempts since then at popping out a flower - but I kept removing it since I thought the plant's energy would be best spent growing sturdier instead of trying to make a lemon. Eventually I decided to let nature take its course and look at it now..

It's covered in little buds! There are far too many for the little tree to bear but I'm tempted to leave it alone and see what happens.

The Awkward Orchard

I stopped in at the northside nursery Eden Gardens on the weekend for a quick browse - and of course left with a boot full of plants and brain full of ideas.

I picked up a White Mulberry tree, inspired by the success to date of our Black Mulberry tree (check it out above - it is now officially way taller than me!)

I was also inspired by their fantastic citrus trees and resolved to pay mine a bit more attention.

We've had a Tahitian Lime tree languishing in the back of the veggie patch near the chicken coop - and despite punching out a small branch initially it's been attacked by grubs, grasshoppers and citrus leaf miners and hasn't shown any interest in growing for about 6-8 months.

I decided that it wasn't getting enough sun either so I took the plunge and transplanted it along the fence line in a much sunnier position amongst our other fruit trees. I hope it will be much happier here - and I didn't shock it too much by moving it.

So, now we've got from left to right...

White Mulberry, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Tahitian Lime, Dwarf Meyer Lemon, Hootie the possum guard and the star performer Black Mulberry.