Trimming a lemon tree, and a snail laying eggs.

I was advised to trim our lemon tree down, and then something happened.

You can see that the fruits were not developing anymore.

Since last season the lemon tree started to deliver many malformed lemons, way beyond its harvesting season. The fruits were still very big, but the juices inside dried up, and something had to be done about it. Some black aphids also started to collect on the leaves of the tree, and the danger of this type of aphid is that they can not only ruin the tree, but also our garden. So, something drastic had to take place in order to save the tree.
A humorous incident also took place, as my wife was helping me, and you will see it below in the post.

I started to cut the branches down and was halfway when my wife ordered me to leave the branches at left intact.

The wife was sorting the branches out in order for me to cut them shorter in order for the branches to fit into the big plastic bags.

Now what about me? The praying mantis whispered to my wife.

And so, I was ordered to leave the high branches alone, and ever so smugly, my wife put the mantis on the leaves.

Now for something else.
Have you ever seen the eggs of a snail?

I picked the snail up in one of our flowerpots, and when I turned the snail over, I saw the eggs.

Snails are no good in gardens, and so I removed the snail, as we really didn't want 13 snails being born in our garden.

And so, it was a happy ending, as the mantis was saved, and our garden was safe by removing the snail eggs. Now I have to wait for the mantis to depart, and then I will cut the rest of the lemon tree branches down. Had my wife not spotted that mantis, it would surely have gone into the bags and that would have been the end of it.
I really think that my wife knows the mantis language, and the mantis convinced her to order me not to cut the remaining branches down.
Such is life!

I hope you enjoyed the story and the pictures.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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