In Southern California, if you have a garden of virtually any size, you will at some point acquire a citrus tree - it's a botanical rite of passage. Even in my former tiny, shady garden, I tried growing a lemon tree in a large pot. It didn't thrive and I ultimately gave up on it. However, when we moved to our current house 3 years ago, we inherited 4 mature citrus trees, a major boon! There's a row of citrus at the back of our vegetable garden and a lemon tree at the bottom of our slope.
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| Our citrus alley along the back of the vegetable garden - the Mandarin orange is on the left, the Washington navel in the middle, and tree on the right is a lime |
Our oranges are 100 times sweeter than those we buy from the market. Each year since we moved here, we've eagerly awaited the moment when the oranges ripen. Well, that day is here! The Washington navel oranges are now ripe enough to pick. Unlike the Mandarin oranges, the Washington navels hide behind the tree's foliage.
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| The fruit is hardly visible behind the foliage |
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| Last year, after the fruit was harvested, I climbed into the thicket and cut out the dead wood - it looks as though I'll be doing that again this year |
I went out early this morning and picked oranges for my husband and I and lemons for my friend LD2, who consumes them in mass quantities. I need to find someone who loves limes as they tend to go to waste, littering the ground below the tree.
We'll enjoy the oranges for several weeks and, when they're gone, the Mandarin oranges should be good enough to pick!
Life is good.
