Carolina Gardening: My pride and joymy lemon, 1 by StonoRiver

StonoRiver wrote:
I love experiments! Seven years ago I experimented with a truly delicious tangerine's seed that my wife brought home from the local Harris Teeter. Three of the 5 seeds I planted germinated in the GH. I grew those 3 trees out for the next 2 years, wintering them over in the GH. I up-potted all three yearly but moved them outside in their pots every spring, then back in the GH every fall. They got quite large, and took up too much room in the GH, so I gave two away. But even the one I kept was a struggle to get into and out of the GH for the winter, so I decided to plant it in the ground and hope for the best. Didn't think it would survive, but there was no room for it (it was about 7' tall and wide by this time). But it had green tangerines on it! Those tangerines ripened, and were delicious( about 30-40 of them), so I muscled it into the GH for the winter, but vowed it would be the last time! I planted it in the ground outside the greenhouse that spring thinking that would be the end of my "experiment". The thing is now 7 years old, and last year we picked over 100 tangerines from it. And they're really good! Like all the citrus growers teach us, they don't grow true from seed. These tangerines are slightly smaller than the parent tree, and have more seeds. But they are just as tasty! I consider this a truly worthwhile experiment...