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[Campo Girl]

I have to laugh at myself, when we moved into Monda we went around the garden, as you do to suss out what is what and we were convinced we had a lemon tree around the pool, the tree had always looked a little shabby and I have been giving it some TLC to try and revive it and get lemons................well!

It turns out this tree is a Satsuma LOL, I had smelt the leaves given the attention a lemon tree requires to find out when I finally get fruit 2 years later that it is actually orange, well how wrong can one be

Besides all that I am now getting fruit

[Alec]

This caught my eye as I didn´t realise, in my ignorance, that oranges and lemons needed different treatment!

I also moved into a garden with many neglected and unknown trees, and a couple of years later they all seem to be thriving. I don´t know if I am doing the right thing as I couldn´t find much on pruning citrus fruits, but I have just finished the annual pruning of mine and my technique is as follows - regardless of what they are.

All new shoots coming out of the trunk at low level are first rubbed out. Then any vigorous, coarse, tall shoots with no sign of fruit buds are cut well back to an outward-facing bud, to keep them in check and concentrate the tree´s energy into its fruit. Finally any new side shoots which grow towards the centre of the tree are removed, to allow the air into the centre and keep the tree healthy.

the only problems I have are occasionally with scale insects, which are difficult to spot while they are still small, when they are easier to treat. I either brush them with alcohol, or spray (the affected areas only) with something strong and nasty. I have tried things like Neem Tree Oil sprays but they had no effect on the blighters!

Is there anything else I should be doing, other than feeding and watering?

Alec.

[NickFox]

Our landlord uses a mixture of 1 part apricot juice to 5 parts of water in the bottom of old plastic bottle with small round holes cut in them (above the level of the liquid of course) to control citrus fruit flies.  They get in and can't get out again. It's much cheaper and environmentally better than those yellow chemical bottle traps. 

Just my tuppenceworth : )

[Campo Girl]

And what a great tuppenceworth it is

[CampoGirl Gina]

What a fab idea Will be trying that one out, thanks

[Alec]

That´s a brilliant idea. I know it must work because the biggest pest of my apricots is the fruit fly, with its tiny little maggots. We had so many of them last year, and in such a big crop, that we ignored them in the end - not easy to do, but it´s all a matter of mind over matter! This year the crop is going to be much lighter, so maybe it´s normal for apricots to have the occasional rest year.

[Suzy]

Hi Nick
I am so looking forward to some pics of your hops growing along the bedsteads. That amused me because our boundary fence along the olives is made up of so many household objects it is surreal.  Every day the dogs unearth some sort of pot, pan, pane of glass, etc.  But to get back to your hops, what do you do with them and at what stage, to turn them into beer?
Cheers
Suzy