Snow Peas, Lemon Trees and Busy Bees

Most of the snow peas in the balcony garden have been pulled to make way for spring crops and because they were infected with spider mites. Though two pots remain, one was the first I planted, the other the last planted and is only just coming into flower now. Fern at life on the balcony did the wonderful post on Asian vegetables and I wholeheartedly agree with her advice and will have to get my hands on the low growing snow peas, 'Oregon Sugar Pod' she calls them. I picked a giant kind on snow pea on the basis that it was powdery mildew resistant (supposedly) and didn't get stringy if left on the bush too long. They did grow more than two foot, and more than 2 metres!

Luckily the neighbours on this side are rather friendly and don't mind the impending overhang. Still, these will be gone soon, red spider mites are taking hold again, and the lemon tree needs to go to its summer home which happens to coincide with the exact spot the snow peas have claimed residence. Speaking of lemon tree check out the daily visitors to mine!

Awesome bees, pollinating away. Unfortunately they still seem to miss the tomato flowers so I need to hand pollinate them with the new electric toothbrush (a blue on this season!!!) If you want to see pictures of what to do with lemons, and other citrus at this time of the year pop on over to Jamie at Garden Amateur, he has a great post on keeping the citrus to a workable level.