My First Harvest

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On my 50th Birthday my son gifted me a Lemon tree. I had wanted a lemon tree in my garden for as long as I can remember, I am not sure what the obsession was, but eventually I got one. After about a year the tree started to look sad, so I visited my local nursery who has a very keen Horticulturalist and told him about my lemon tree. He offered to pop over and take a look, which he did and then gave me some advice. "Talk to your trees" Yes . . . that was the advice he gave me, together with a small spray of something to get rid of the sooty mold which is a fungus that was causing the blackening of the leaves of my lemon tree. After about a week, my tree's leaves looked healthy again and every morning the tree and I would have a tête-à-tête . . telling it that it was the best gift i had ever received - a living gift, and it grew! This week-end we harvested a pile of lemons from my tree - its first harvest in six years. Normally such a tree would bear fruit after about four-five years, but I suppose the ill health of its early years, slowed the process down. I obtained this information from my google tool: "From the fifth year onward, citrus trees enter their fruit-bearing stage. When they begin bearing fruit, they grow more slowly, especially during the winter. They reach their full size 10 to 14 years after planting. After 20 to 25 years, the trees reach their peak production and their yield of fruit declines" 'Lemons for my tea, Lemons for my hair, Lemons in the garden fresh smells in the air!' The uses for lemons are endless - you may share a few if you like. Never let the lemons be wasted, I was gifted about 100 lemons last year and I juiced them and froze the juice in ice-cube sizeses, now if I dont have a fresh lemon to use, I just take out a cube of iced lemon juice.