We have so many fruit trees at Edendale that we have an “Adopt a fruit Tree” initiative for the classes, to help them all get cared for properly. Mostly classes have taken the trees closest to them so they can check on them more easily.
Room 19 are a bunch of wonderfully enthusiastic year 1 students and their lovely teacher Kristin Doscher emailed me to say their tree – a meyer lemon – was looking very sad. So this morning we all went out to the lemon tree to see what the problem was and what to do about it.
This particular tree was planted almost exactly one year ago, and what none of us realised at the time was that in the summer, that particular spot had a shade sail over it. And then with all the rain we had last summer, the water collected in the shade cloth and dripped directly onto the poor tree. So the tree was doubly unhappy. It needed to not have wet feet and it needed more sun, so this morning we moved it from that spot and re-planted it in a better position. Here’s what we did:
1 Dug a new hole and mixed in lots of potting mix (usually i would just use compost but this tree needed a bit more TLC and the potting mix has lots more slow release fertiliser in and some wetting agents which will help the tree not get too dry in summer)
2 Moved the tree, being careful to not disturb the roots too much, and planted in the new hole.
3 We did a little dance around it to fix it firmly in the ground
4 Put the stake back in for support
5 Scattered some more slow release fertiliser around the top and watered it a little
6 Covered the base of the tree with lots of mulch to keep moisture in and weeds away
7 We had fun and made lots of noise (sorry to all those people in classes who were nearby!!)
Garden of Edendale 
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