October 17 - Fruit

An artsy-fartsy shot of the ripening Meyer lemons.

When life gives you lemons …

you take 'em!

When I told my husband I was bringing home a lemon tree he said we could start making 7-Up, since we already have a lime tree. Good thing we have sliding glass doors instead of walls in our living room, because citrus needs lots o' light.

Aren't they pretty?

These fruits are all that remain, as I left some in Tennessee. But there will be more, I'm sure of it. Everything I've read about Meyer lemons (and this may be a Meyer after all) indicate they can take some abuse, which it surely has had the last few days. A little fertilizer, a little water, a lotta sun and I expect it to be full of fruit in another six months or so.

The lime tree has more limes than I can count, but they're very tiny. I don't know what variety of lime I have, though, so maybe they're supposed to be tiny. And I just found out today that limes are orange when they're mature; limes are picked before they're fully ripe.

My miserable cold moved to my head overnight and I'm not nearly as sick as I was when I was supposed to be useful. I can be merely decorative now that I'm home, so of course I'm feeling better. Heh.

Today is not the day to start walking again, although my heel pain is miraculously gone. (Not miraculous at all – rest, stretching and ice will heal plantar fasciitis.) We're having company this weekend and I'd rather be completely free of this cold when they arrive. So I will rest and knit today (the newsboy cap I started, oh, a couple weeks ago?), and make something warm and comforting to eat, and drink tea with honey.

And lemon.

A hint of fall

My husband and I walked together yesterday morning, four miles in 77 minutes. Cutting three minutes off our usual 20-minutes/mile pace means just one thing: cooler weather!

According to weather.com, it's 52 here in the Middle of Nowhere this morning. I don't think we'll be using the AC today.

The leaves on this maple are turning gold and orange. Already!

I worked in the garden yesterday. Not that there's anything new in that, but this is the earliest I can remember actually pulling out plants and grabbing the last of anything. The edamame plants are all out of the ground, except for three which are drying so I can save the seeds. Ditto the green beans. I picked enough for one more meal.

There are three big green tomatoes, which will be perfect to fry. Maybe tomorrow. You can't let them go too long or they're mushy. I'm making gumbo for tonight, to use up the last of the okra.

I continue to be delighted with the process of gardening, in all its forms. I love gathering what's ripe from the back yard and figuring out what to do with it. And when it all gets ripe at the same time – corn, for example, since I only seeded once – I love blanching and packaging it for the freezer. This is the kind of processed food I can really endorse!

I also planted some pink coreopsis, tall garden phlox and a clump of sea grass in the landscape bed, and transplanted a Meyer lemon from its little plastic pot into a larger clay pot. (Martha says clay is better for Meyer lemons. Who knows?) I'm thinking it will be several years before I get a lemon; in the meantime the lime tree is loaded with fruit.

Do any of you have Meyer lemon plants, either in your yard or potted? I've had great luck with the lime tree, but I know Meyer lemons can be picky. I need to get some more citrus fertilizer, I'm nearly out of it.