Lemon time!

One of my Improved Meyers is now just over 15 yrs old. The other two are 'babies' at 10 yrs. When I started growing citrus, I found it ironic that grocery stores jack up the price of lemons in the winter, when this is the heaviest harvest time. They only bear sporadically the rest of the year.

I juice and freeze what I can, and give the rest to family and friends. I picked a bucketful last week and today, two of the Meyers had some more ready to gather up.

We're getting an early and good start to our rainy season, and if so, it'll be an extended harvest for the Meyers. We've had three drought years out of the last four, making the harvest decent-sized but shorter than in a good rain year. When the rains come in regularly over the six-months of our wet season (October-April), the Meyers keep coming for much longer. In a good year I'll get 75+ lbs. off a single Meyer, but in bad years that can drop to 35 lbs. or so.

What a great harvest you got there.

my meyers lemon tree is pretty full this year too. And, I was excited to see some new blooms on them - signalling more new lemons in a few more months.

My Eurecka's are just starting to turn yellow after it seems like months and months.;

I have a dwarf Meyer in a large pot. LOTS of lemons just now ripening. I decided to buy a standard Meyer Improved... In a pot as well. I have about a dozen small lemons coming on, several dozen new blooms. The scent (on Thanksgiving Day!) is sooo refreshing. There are no bees because of the chill, so I 'tickle' the the pistils with pollen bearing stamens from other blooms. I have time on my hands...

I miss my lemons, and my oranges, sold my house in July. :-(

As I remember, you had a lot of plants in your garden. Were you able to take some of them with you? Did you move out of the area?

I have about 300 plants in pots right now, we are staying at my Mom's still here in San Jose while we negotiate for a short sale in the town of Sebastopol, near Santa Rosa. It's on 1/2 acre, yeah!!

Calif_Sue,
Congrats for your winning entries in the photo contest! : - )
Wow, can I come visit when you get settled? Sebastopol is one of the most beautiful regions up that way! No wonder you know how to get to the beach at Big Sur! : - )
You'll have your half acre full before you know it with all the plants you already have. : - )
You know since I'm allergic to citrus, I don't even know if the trees in the orchard are producing. I'll have to go look.
The DH & the kids like 'em, though, so I should be looking for some dwarf Improved Meyers? ES is so busy right now, and he really likes the orchard. It's so hard to get him to connect with gardening, but the way to get to him, is to grow the fruits he loves. Then he's personally invested. I mean he did help me get rid of a lot of cut worms that were devouring the strawberry plants. He loves his strawberries. LOL! : - )
Sad to hear you had to move Sue, but hey, what a great climate for so many plants, in the new house. : - )
We just drove through there coming back from the bee convention, and for the most part it was just gorgeous.
Got to get going!
WIB!
SW

We didn't have to move, we wanted to move, get out of the city now that hubby is retired! Still close enough to big city for us to have all the conveniences we're used to while having some space around us, not having the neighbors 6 ft on either side of us! The climate is almost the same as here in San Jose, just a bit more ocean influence so it cools down 4-6 degrees lower at night. Plus, the population is only about 8,000, spread out, compared to over 1,000,000 here in the city

This message was edited Dec 7, 2010 2:16 PM

Yeah, I was giving it long look on the way down the coast and where we went inland. I like living in the country, and can't imagine having to endure being that close to other people all the time. I imagine I'd learn to adjust, but I guess I'm a farm girl at heart. : - )
It's nice to be able to see the stars at night, (can't see them as much in the city or near the beach), and just enjoy being away from all the hustle and bustle in the city.
HOA's aren't much fun to deal with either, I hear.
I do hope you enjoy your new home as much as your last one, if not more. : - )
WIB~
SW

Sue, I envy you! Sebastipol is wonderful! I would go crazy with a 1/2 acre...Green house, orchard, flowerbeds....drool.