On losing lemons and celebrating citrus

After weeks of trying to rescue a favourite lemon tree, I had to accept that it was not going to recover. We decided to remove the tree. It appears that there might have been a problem with the soil. This could have been caused by seepage from the canal, resulting in a swamping of the surrounding soil. We decided to remove the soil around the ailing lemon tree. We then disinfected the sides and bottom of the resulting hole and the bordering earth.  The removed soil I then used to repair some soil erosion damage at the municipal dump. Much to the delight of the resident manager.

Homemade Limoncello

We decided that life is too short to plant small trees. This meant collecting a well-grown replacement specimen from a nursery near the town of Tulbagh. Tulbagh is located about 130 km from Bonnievale, in a mountain basin known as “Het Land van Waveren”. The trip to the nursery provided for quite an adventure. Slowly, the landscape changed from green vineyards and orchards to freshly harvested wheat fields. The nursery itself too, held for a pleasant discovery. I was amazed by its size and the generous selection of garden plants. I had known it primarily as a tree nursery and had not expected such variety.

Tulbagh Nursery - garden plant section

I was briefly distracted by the selection of hydrangeas. I was contemplating where I could plant some in the Towerwater garden when a nursery employee asked if he could assist us. I was reminded why we were there and decided to focus on the task at hand.

A tempting hydrangea 

Their selection of citrus trees is quite extensive. Their larger trees under the shade netting was not quite the size for which I was hoping. After explaining my preference, the nurseryman’s face lit up. He explained that what we were looking for, was to be found in another section of the garden around the corner. We followed him, but after walking briskly for 15 minutes along a gravel road, I was starting to wonder if I should not have brought my bottle of water along.

Tulbagh Nursery - citrus selection

It was a hot day. Although most of the walk was in the shade, we could feel the 36° C in the still air.  Suddenly, we walked into a clearing. There before us was a forest of citrus and other trees. The sight of the trees made me wish that we had more space to plant more of them.

The baby lemon

I chose a Eureka lemon tree of 2.2 metres tall. The nurseryman looked impressed with my choice. He pointed to a tiny lemon fruit on the tree saying I would not regret my choice. At that point I was hoping that I didn’t get charged extra for a tree already ‘in fruit’.

Tulbagh Nursery - rose section

As we walked back to the office, the nurseryman conducted an animated discussion on Eureka and Lisbon lemons. I was enlightened on their rootstocks, pip and juice quantity and the size of their thorns.  We were happy with our choice of the Eureka lemon.

He used a tractor and trailer to fetch our lemon and brushed aside my concerns that the tree will not fit into our bakkie (pick-up). Apparently, I had just to leave everything to him, something I gladly did. I joined Keith in the rose section of the nursery where he was selecting roses to introduce into the rosarium. In the rosarium, two yellow roses particularly, were not performing and were up for replacement. The newly selected rose bushes were strong and healthy. Keith selected “Amber Queen” for the Floribunda and “Casanova” for the Hybrid Tea positions in the rosarium.

Our future lemons

With the lemon tree and two roses in the back of the bakkie, we decided to return home via an antique store in the neighbouring town of Ceres, located 21kms from Tulbagh. In no time, we had identified three pieces of furniture that could work in the Victorian cottage in Cape Town. The lemon tree- filled bakkie prevented the purchase and we decided to make another antique-buying trip later in the year, or early next year.

Back home at Towerwater, we immediately planted the roses and lemon tree. Suddenly it seemed as if we had never lost a lemon tree. The single lemon and a couple of blossoms on the new tree held good omens for marmalade making next year. 

After a hot day and vigorous gardening escapade, we could relax on the lawn at sunset with a Limoncello Martini. A special feature of the martini was that it was mixed with our own Limoncello. Limoncello that had been made with some of the last lemons provided by our sadly departed favourite lemon tree. We could celebrate the memory of the old lemon tree and the promises of the new, now freshly planted, for the Towerwater garden.