Orange Blemishes

My wife had a group over today for marketing and someone brought lox.  I didn't really know before what that was but it went really well on the bagels they had during lunch.  I also had a Pokka Milk Coffee to go with it.

What I noticed here though were the oranges.  Often when we go to the store we want that perfect piece of fruit or cut of meat or what have you.  My grandpa tole me once that grocery stores won't even buy fruit if it doesn't look nice even if it's perfectly good to eat.  These oranges are a good example of fruit that has a blemish but is otherwise fine.  The oranges he had growing on the tree often had even more dark spots but there was nothing wrong with them.

Next time you're at the store take a look at how the fruit looks and think about how that affects what you buy.  Oh, and pick up some lox, they're tasty.

Citrus and Chocolate

Citurs season is around the corner.
My mom used to tell me stories about getting oranges as gifts and how it was so special since they lived up north and of cours they didn't grow aound that area.  Winter is citrus season though and a whole variety of fruits will be available for a decent price.  As the strawberry preserves are being eaten on fresh scones out of the oven it will be time to preserve the citrus in marmalades and candied slices to be enjoyed throught the summer.

This brings to mind my kaffir lime tree.
So it's still kind of small but it's getting bigger and there are plenty of leaves to use in curies, which are also great in the coming cold weather.  I have to admit my favorite is masuman but any curry is good, especially with potatoes.  I don't know what it is but potatoes go great in any curry you can imagine.

What goes better with citrus than chocolate!
Fortunately the chocolate conference is comin up again this year in Addison on the 29th.  Perfect timing since my chocolate stash is coming to it's end from last year.  I bouth seven bars and saved some of the bigger samples you get with your admision ticket.  They will have lots of chocolates to sample and buy. I'm hoping to have a good variety this year an not so much bacon....  Bacon's ok but not really what I want my chocolate poured over, it's much better with scones and jam.

Citrus Seeds and Others

It's amazing how popular the post on citrus seeds still is after all these years.  It gets several hits a day, probably because there really isn't much out ther on planting trees from seed or what to look for and do with them if you desire to go that route.
I am very happy that my kaffir lime tree, started from seed, is still looking good.  It needs to be repotted which I plan to do around the end of the month or beginning of next month.
Another seed I have recently gotten is from the spqghetti squash we had for dinner last night. Still needs a little processing but they should be good. It's the end of the planting time for squash so I need to step on it.  The cucumbers haven't done so well and unless they pick up I'll probably plant the seeds there.  the canteloupe on the other hand are picking up and have secured their place until winter.

Middle of Harvests

We went to visit family and found out that there is very little being picked at the moment. It's too late for figs and citrus, or too early depending on how you look at it, and it's too early for grapes, pears and peaches.
There are a few tomatoes and peppers out there and an occasional veggie that's ripening all alone but for the most part it's time to water and wait.
I still have the amazingly big beet root growing and a couple more beets growing nearby. I'm hoping they bolt soon or I'll have to eat them. They just look so tasty.

Pruning Trees

It's cold and sometimes rainy, a perfect time of year to make a nice cup of tea and wrap up in a warm blanket.
It's also the perfect time of year to get some needed pruning done. The trees are dormant and for us in Arlington we have pretty nice weather.
There are three reasons to prune a tree, shaping, fruit production and removing damaged or dead material.
If you want to shape a tree you first need to figure out what shape you want the tree to take on.  This will depend on what kind of tree it is and where it was planted.  An apple tree for instance usually need plenty of room to spread out and you would thus prune the branches to give plenty of room between the main limbs.  If you moved into a house where the apple tree is in a more cramped space you might do something similar but with the branches moving more upward, cutting off branches that might want to be hitting the house or other structures.

For fruit production you will want to remove sucker branches. These grow more or less straight up from the trunk or sometimes large branches.  they usually don't produce fruit but are easy to remove since they are new and green.  You would remove these in the spring when they form.  They can also be removed in the winter but  by this time will have become woody. If you bought a bush from the store then the rootstock might not be the same as the rest of the bush.  Suckers originating from the base may not even be of the same type and can take over if not removed.
For removing dead or damaged limbs you will need to figure out what limbs need removing and make sure you have removed enough. A rotted limb might go into a larger limb and the entire thing might need removing.  This happened with my fig tree. A limb as big around as my arm had to be cut out.  The next year it produced better than ever since it didn't have to work on healing as much.
One of the main things to consider with any pruning is making sure the tree as a whole is not damaged in the process.  A cut too far back can damage the limb or trunk the pruned limb is being cut off of.  Better in that case not to cut too much lest you have to cut the next branch too.

Update:
I would recommend cutting these off as soon as you see them start to grow.

Lemon and Other Citrus Propagation from Seed

It was about two and a half years ago when I posted about starting citrus from seeds.

http://gardentimeline.blogspot.com/2009/02/sprouting-citurs-seeds-lemon-lime.html

Since then there have been multiple copies of that post and others who have posted how they would sprout citrus seeds. One of the stranger ones had you planting the whole fruit. Although I must admit that I haven't tried this method, I highly doubt that that method would work very well.
I have a number of seeds now trying to germinate and since I don't currently have a lot of citrus plants I figure now is a good time to start some more and review the steps and information to go about doing so.
The seeds I will be using are a bit older but they don't seem to have lost any volume so I'll just stick with what I have. Results are usually pretty quick so I'll know if I have to go buy some more limes or whatnot.
I even have the lemon seeds that were in an older post about seeds and what they look like, still pretty good hits on the google image search. They're still different colors too so I know which ones are meyer lemons.
All I really need to do is get some larger pots and good soil. Then peel the outer shell off of the seed and plant. Water when needed. Wait patiently.
A good rule of thumb, is the more you're waiting for the shorter the wait. Typically something will happen every few days of you have a lot of stuff germinating. If you want to see results quickly then plant some beans while you're at it. It will make the wait for everything else seem shorter.

Lemonade Trials

My wife got into her head that I needed to make and sample different lemonades made from fresh lemons simply because she was making popcorn. I still don't get it but it was a bit of fun anyway.
I can't say it was very extensive or entirely lemons but here's what we found out.
First, you need to make sure you have enough lemon juice and enough sugar in any lemonade you want to make. Too little of either and you don't have much of a drink and the popcorn gets cold as people wait for their drinks.
Second, Meyer lemons are much more mellow and lack the bite that your average lemon has.
Third, a bergamot orange is not a good substitute for lemons... I should have known. It does however add a very floral note to the drink if added to lemonade in small amounts.

Loquat?

I couldn't figure out what was being mixed to make a loquat so I looked it up. Come to find out that nothing is mixed. It's not even a citrus fruit.
Like the kumquat the ending "quat" is a descriptive chinese reference to it's resemblance to an orange.
loquat "reed orange"
kumquat "golden orange"

Citrus Seed Trueness

An interesting note on citrus seeds is that they can and often do produce true to the fruit. One reason for this is that many of them can be pollinated by themselves. Without the need for another tree the seeds have no genetic pollutants.
This is not the case for all citrus however and in these cases you would need two of the same type of citrus growing near each other to increase the chance that the trees grow true to the fruit.
I have successfully grown key limes, kaffir limes, and lemon from seed and they have all grown true as far as I can tell. One reason for this is that orchards usually clump all of one type of citrus together. It would kill production to have them scattered.
I don't know if the kumquats will produce true since the tree had two different orange trees planted right next to it. It might be interesting to see what comes up.

Winter Survival

I have left the lemon tree out in the weather this year, possible the worst year in a very long time. If it survives this I will have no worry about planting it anywhere around the house. It's been frozen to the point that if it was going to die it would.
When everything else had snow and ice on it, the lemon tree didn't have any. I figure it has to do something about the oils in the leaves repelling water. Earlier today the leaves were still green and just a little curled.

Tropical Fruit Sprouts

I'm attempting to start some tropical fruit trees this winter for something to do, growing wise. I have a number of citrus seeds as well as cacao and a couple others that I don't want to bother looking up at the moment.
I'll be posting more about the citrus in detail on the citraphile blog.

Winter's Approach

As the days get cooler I have to decide what to leave out and what to bring in. The tropical plants of course have to come in but there are a lot of plants that used to be inside plants that I am leaving outside this year.
Among those that will have to brave the elements are a relatively small cactus that wintered in the garage last year, the day lilly that I have put in the ground which is the bloom you see in my icon, the basil I am letting go to seed instead of trying to winter it and the lemongrass which will probably need mulch. We had to replace the lemongrass from last time since it died, not from the cold but from trying to produce starters for others.
The elephant ear plants by the back fence came back from last year so I don't have to worry about them. I also don't have to worry about our strawberry plants since they all died this summer.

Seed Survival

It never ceases to amaze me how long a seed can sit in the dirt and still sprout. Recently I had a bird of paradise sprout. It didn't last two weeks but it still sprang up and said "hi" for a second.
This morning I had another visitor in a seed starting tray come up. I think it's a bean plant but I'll have to check the charts when I get home.
There are a lot of seets that lay dormant for years before sprouting. Typically seeds last a year or two. You can usually count on most of your seeds sprouting if kept for the usual time for the type of seed. Every year past that you can drop the number by half or more unless you have stored them well. The better you prepare the seeds for storage the better chance you have that they will sprout.
Some seeds seem to sprout on their own. I collected a bag of acorns one year and they sprouted in the bag. I watched it for a week and by the end well over half of the acorns were sending out roots.
My wife planted some coneflower seeds last fall hoping they would come up. Winter came and she forgot she planted them. We nearly removed all of the flowers since we thought we had contracted a bad case of some strange weed! Fortunately we hadn't gotten around to removing them by the time we realized what they were.
Citrus seeds store well since they have a hard outer coating. They can be stored for years and still sprout. Of course after a long period you will want to score the outside or maybe even entirely remove the outer layer so it has a better chance of sprouting quickly.

Kaffir Lime Tree

So far as I can tell it's still growing well. There are several new leaves even since this picture. The rain has come though so that's what I have. I'm not getting my camera wet.

I really should put it in a bigger pot soon so it will have room to grow. I think it's about at the size that the pot will allow.

The same goes for my key lime tree, the only one still alive. It's in a much smaller pot and the size clearly reflects it. Maybe I'll get to it next week or so.

Kaffir Lime Tree

It's been over a year now since this little one has sprouted. I remember it like it was yesterday, the little guy fighting to grow and not mind too much when I would forget to water him for a week. He's gotten quite used to the outside where the heat can really be unbearable. The rain of course helped and unlike the plumeria (shown in the background behind it), it's leaves haven't gotten too burned.
You're probably thinking, if you know a lot about kaffir lime trees, the leaves look all wrong. That can't be a true kaffir lime tree! Well, truth be told I have no guarantee that it is. All I know is that the seed I planted came out of a kaffir lime. In theory then it is possible that this is a kaffir lime hybrid. but I haven't found any information on what the leaves look like on such a young plant. It very well may develop more distinct leaves once it gets bigger. The smaller parts have been getting bigger as it has aged and I don't have any reason to believe it will stop or continue this trend. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Rain, rain, rain, rain ...

After watering my gardens twice a day, for I don't know how long now, the rain has finally come to give me a break. All of the plants seem to love it too as they are springing to full attention and plumping as only a rain can make them do.
I can only hope my fig tree is taking in enough to make the second wave of figs ripen and get fat and juicy. So far the figs that are ripening, if you can call it that, are dry and shriveled looking.
The cucumbers were already forming fruit and should keep going well.
Unfortunately my wife can't pick flowers in this weather since it makes picked flowers mold which is not the scent you want in a sachet or bowl of potpourri.
I need to get my citrus plants out while it's raining so they can get used to the outside before too long. The kaffir lime is already sitting out front and has done well and the lemon tree out back has a ton of new branches growing. Still no sign of fruit though. Maybe next year.
There is a decent chance all week for rain. I guess I'll just wait and see what ripens.

Out of the gate

I always wanted a nice gate to the backyard of some such thing but this post has nothing to do with actual gates. Instead it is about the sprouts at work.
The first plant to sprout, the apple, was actually a transplant to that pot and the real strong sprout that's now even bigger is a citrus sprout. I can't tell what kind it is yet since there are several types but my fist guess is a lime.

Seed It

A competition is on among some seeds in one of my pots. A variety has been sown and I have no idea which seed will be the victor.
In the one corner we have citrus, a good grower and great to make refreshing drinks.
In another corner we have rose of sharon which I have yet to see grow anywhere in any of my pots. The do however make very nice flowers. A real underdog.
In a third corner we have fresh banana seeds. There are a lot of them but since I didn't bother looking up how to plant them I have no idea if they even have a chance. They are wonderful in sandwiches and of course banana pudding.
In a fourth corner there are blueberry seeds. They may like the acid from some of the banana mush that was planted along with their seeds but then it might not keep them going. Blueberry scones are of course one of the tastiest things on earth especially with fresh whipped cream.
may the best seeds win.

Life Always Goes Back to Citrus

I can't help myself I guess. Give me a citrus seed and away I go.
Today I got some more seeds, clementine and grapefruit, and promptly peeled and planted them in some extra dirt. not many people have extra dirt but what else should a self acclaimed gardener have?
I have dirt in my desk, in my truck, in the green house, out front of the house and a few other places around town that I can get to easily in case of emergencies.
Another of the already planted citrus sprouted this week at the office but I don't know how well it will do with the other citrus in the pot. I should probably transplant one or two of them to their own pots for plenty of room.
My lemon tree on the other hand lots one leaf. I guess it has to happen some times.

Snow Dead

I admit it's not as catchy but I hope it stays that way. I don't want anything else catching cold. I have gotten a positive identification on my cactus plants, two of which will probably not make it. They were so pretty too.
Anyhow, what lived will still live and what died will rot and I quote, "on it's way to being black slime." I always wondered where black slime came from. Can anyone tell me where a gelatinous cube comes from? That can't be a natural shape for anything.
I talked to a relative who lives a bit south of me about my lemon tree and he assures me that it should produce within the next year or two. his trees are about ten feet tall and they produce so well that he doesn't want to trim the limbs except for the ends. Unfortunately several of his other trees died recently and he had to chop them down. So is the cycle of the tree.