Monday, December 15, 2008

Three years ago we bought a little Meyer lemon tree. When we lived in California we had one in the backyard that produced lemons all year long. Since I wasn't sure where I wanted to plant it, we put it in a big pot.

We live in the desert but at 4600 ft. Winter's are fairly cold here. The first winter our little lemon tree had a tough time, dropped leaves, and basically was done for. Or so we thought.

Come spring it started popping a few fragrant blossoms and we babied it back to health. It had a few teeny lemons that we eagerly watched over a few months that eventually just fell off.

The next winter I brought the pot into my kitchen next to the window. The leaves were bright green again and when spring came around my kitchen was filled with the most wonderful scent! There may be nothing that smells better than that. It was doing so well in the house that I was afraid to put it back outside but it was starting to get fairly big and took up too much room.

Today it is loaded with lemons and we actually got to enjoy our first one last week. All of the babying was worth it! So juicy and almost sweet.
I've been covering it at night when the temperature drops to freezing. The nursery people suggested running low wattage Christmas lights through the branches under the cover in a hard freeze.
As lemons are 80 cents EACH here, I think I'll get those lights!

1 comment:

Janice said...

How beautiful! I read a recipe once that involved a whole Meyer lemon, cooked in the middle of a pudding. The whole lemon. Apparently they get nice and mushy and you eat it peel and all! Congrats!

Flora & Fauna

Books I have known & loved

  • Life of Pi
  • A Hundred Years of Solitude
  • Kite Runner
  • The Way the Crow Flies
  • Fall on Your Knees
  • Poisonwood Bible
  • East of Eden
  • Shantaram
  • I Know This Much is True

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