Herb Garden Corner ......

[tonyman]

Well I`ve had my herbs and toms in for a week now , chillis ,peppers basil ,mint oregano and much more the chickens prepared the area , had to put a mulch beside them to help as retic is not working but come a few weeks we should be seeing some good come backs .......I do have trouble with the lime tree and the lemon tree what am I doing wrong ...? think the birds take the buds ?

[dmjg]

Both of our citrus trees have committed suicide in the last 3 months. No idea why.

 

Herbs are going great guns though.

 

The hamburg parsley was a monster. It was going to seed. I've cut it back hard, we'll see if it springs back or whether I pull it out. It will have a turnip root on the bottom to go into the pot. First one I've ever grown, so very happy with it.

 

Just need some coriander, but those seeds are fickle at taking, so I need to buy a punnet from somewhere.

 

Sorry you might have to do a handstand in front of your computer to see it properly!

[Skani]

.I do have trouble with the lime tree and the lemon tree what am I doing wrong ...? think the birds take the buds ?

 

They hate wind...are they in a protected spot?

They also hate frost...but I assume that's not a problem where you are?

[boganbear]

You may need to add Epsom salts to the citrus if the leaves are going yellow or falling off as many soils are deficient in magnesium which they need. They are also very sensitive plants, need quite a lot of water initially

[blossom]

We need a bit more info on your citrus trees. They do fine with wind. I've never seen birds eating any of mine. Any sign of scale on your trees? How old are they? If the leaves look funny take a pic as there are a few different deficiencies. Have you fed them at all?

[blossom]

Also, any sign of citrus leaf minor? There will be wiggly lines in the leaves if so.

[Skani]

We need a bit more info on your citrus trees. They do fine with wind.

 

They certainly don't do fine with wind here...it's the number 1 problem for citrus trees around these parts, particularly near the coast.

 

Here you go, Tonyman...make sure you've covered all the bases covered here - including weeing around your trees.:wink:

 

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s972708.htm

[blossom]

Not many plants like salty wind. ;-)

No problem with wind here at all. I have two lemons, two limes, two cumquats and three orange trees. All fine with non salty wind. The only plants I've had not like wind are my coffee trees (and a moved peach tree which hasn't had a chance to set new roots coz the wind keeps blowing it over grrrr).

[tonyman]

thanks chaps , will take a pic when I fine the battery charger ! just noticed a golf ball size lemon on the tree and few flowers appearing , I did throw a badminton net around it to try and keep the early morning birds off ....Skani I will only pee on it at night :wink:

 

Blossom the lemon tree is 5 yrs old maybe more but only about 6ft high , the lime is about 3 and 2ft high as a gardener cut it down ,it has pea gravel around it so does that mean I can only liquid feed? will also post a pic of that asap ..........

[blossom]

Most of the feeds for citrus you get as powders and mix up in a watering can anyway, so no problem there. There are prills that you can buy (little plastic covered balls which release food slowly) which you normally mix in with the soil, but as long as you had them under the gravel they'd be fine. Osmocote for fruit and citrus is what I use. Twice a year, but citrus often does need extra nutrients.

[starlight7]

The thing I have trouble with is basil.. Something eats it every time. Thought it was the possums so I have it under nets but- this morning it was all chomped up. Grrr.

[tonyman]

Basil ahhhh I just love the smell of it , so far so good in a pot on its own away from the other plants in part shade ........I remember the first yr I planted a lot of young lettuce , the next day the dog ate them all , she went for them again last week I really shouted at her and has not been near ever since ........

[LKC]

The thing I have trouble with is basil.. Something eats it every time. Thought it was the possums so I have it under nets but- this morning it was all chomped up. Grrr.

 

Check it for caterpillars. Mine gets eaten by cabbage loopers, which are from cabbage white butterflies. They also eat my mint (that is their favourite), iceberg lettuces (they don't touch the cos) and tomato plant leaves.

[Xenon4017]

The thing I have trouble with is basil.. Something eats it every time.

 

Basil here grows like a weed.

 

But I also have mixed success with citrus. I bought a lime tree which I put in a large pot, and an orange tree which is planted outside. They were both the same size at first. The first year the orange tree did nothing. This year there was a glorious bloom and plenty of small oranges (<5mm) but then they fell off. I water and liquid feed on a regular basis.

 

On the other hand, the lime tree exploded into a growth of fruit int he first year, more fruit than leaves. I'm sure we had more kilos of fruit than there are kilos of tree. But the leaves were eaten by bugs, in spite of spraying with soap solution. This year, there was some leaf growth, but again the fruit mainly fell off. There's just one or two left, but they're growing to the size of olives now.

 

Do citrus require time to stabilise? Or should I be changing the regime a bit?

 

BTW my favourite is chilli. It grows well, has a great inverted pyramid shape and the yield from 2 plants caters for my modest chilli intake. In case you haven't spotted, my long-term goal is to plant an avocado and become self sufficient in guacamole.

[ErmintrudeMcMoo]

I'd stay the leaves with white oil, citrus can be a bit funny when they are just establishing. Personally I've had real problems with the snails this year, I planted out some cucumber plants only to find nothing but 1 stalk left the next morning out of 6 plants!