To also improve my health, I have been trying to increase my hours of sleep and one would think with the shorter days that this would be an easy win...not. So I was up at 5:30 A.M. this morning and listening/watching a course I am taking on photography via my laptop. The house was almost quiet except for the TREMENDOUS wind and rain we are getting today. It would come in waves and then stop for a few minutes. I paused the laptop video to refresh my coffee and just before I stood up, I heard a thick thud coming from the kitchen. Had a tree branch hit the side of the house in this angry storm? Did something fall over behind me in the kitchen? Was I still alone with hubby sound asleep in bed or was someone stalking about the house in this dark morning?
I did not panic because it was a familiar sound. It came from my citrus orchard in the corner windows of the kitchen. The "thunk" was the fall of a Kafir lime about the size of a golf ball as the tree shed its ripe fruit. It does become a prickly treasure hunt when I try to retrieve the green orb and nine times out of ten it falls into the farthest corner.
I am growing a Meyer Lemon tree, a Calamondin tree, and a Kafir lime tree inside and all super pruned so that they fit! The large pots sit in plastic bins (ugly I know) because I have to really soak the trees each week. They are mostly root and little soil, so I also fertilize every six weeks or so. The Kafir and the Calamondon are full of fruit. That means this winter I will get lots of fresh vitamin C. These windows do not have the coatings that most windows have to reduce sunlight on fabrics and floors. The timed lighting is necessary or trees would be dropping leaves as well as fruit!
I made turkey curry last night and the citrus was a nice addition sprinkled over the top of dishes and added to our beverages.
If I closed my eyes I could pretend I was eating in a small breakfast lanai on Bali.
Your trees look very healthy, and that fruit looks delicious! I'm glad it was just the "thunk" of a big lemon falling. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are creative in every way including citrus tree growing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat corner! But I remember that you are a master gardener.
ReplyDeleteYep, very nice and sunny...uh, when it's not raining, that is.
DeleteHave had to research this as houseplants were not part of our course.
DeleteThat is very cool or "lit" as my granddaughter says.
ReplyDeleteMagic stuff. All my plants are outside on the deck. They get watered once a week, and late week we pour off the water so we do not have mosquitos. LOL Sometimes we also remember to water our neighbor's plants....she has been gone many years.
ReplyDeleteA reason to get out of the house!!
DeleteThat is so funny! Thud and chasing down limes. I'm glad it wasn't anything serious.
ReplyDeleteMaybe wrapping plastic grass mat around planters?
I envy your garden! I had to look up Calamondin tree so I learned something too. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe grew a Meyer lemon tree before we discovered there is a Hawaii Meyer and a California Meyer. The California Meyer is super sweeter. Your indoor citrus orchard looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteI admire your citrus garden. You seem to have mastered how to keep your trees happy and producing.
ReplyDeleteWorking on it.
DeleteI have never seen anyone but you grow citrus indoors. You are the master, Tabor.
ReplyDeleteWow. Your own greenhouse in a corner of the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI, too, admire you indoor orchard. Your trees look to be thriving in their corner. And a lime falling would be the best possible thud one could hear in the night.
ReplyDeleteLove your indoor orchard. All we have is philodendron ... and not because we like it, but because it's the only thing we can grow.
ReplyDeleteSome succulents are easy and I am now growing a Hoya carnosa, the porcelainflower or wax plant, which is VERY slow to grow and bloom but requires very little care.
DeleteI wish that I could grow indoor citrus like this! I would love that.
ReplyDeleteI used to be able to grow house plants and loved doing it but wrong windows both in Oregon and Tucson. And then there are cats who like the tables that might grow a plant
ReplyDeleteLighting is 80% of the need.
DeleteThat is amazing growing fruit inside. Well done. You don't have a marijuana hidden in there do you?
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, no. It is legally available not too far from here, but it is a bit of a drive.
DeleteSomething crashed loudly on my roof last night causing me to leap three feet in the air off my bed and my two furry bed-mates to do likewise. I'll pop out shortly to see what it was. Whatever it was will have to stay there because there is noway I am climbing up there... no way I could!
ReplyDeleteMy generous little lemon tree is loaded with baby fruit. Now I'm waiting and waiting for the fruit to grow and ripen I love the lemons off my little tree.
Take good care, Tabor....:)
Oh, that's wonderful growing those trees indoors. I had a variety of dwarf citrus, 2 oranges, lemon, lime plus my favorite -- Mandarin orange. I hadn't setup the drip system when suddenly my husband died, then an extended trip east to celebrate his life with friends and my trees didn't get watered so died in summer heat. They had become pretty much all root in pots, too. I never resumed that gardening with new trees but miss those mandarin oranges. I don't have indoor area I could have trees and if outside on patio would need to be able to move them a few times in winter due to instances of freezing temps and I'm no longer able to physically handle such large plants.
ReplyDelete