I just want to soak up the sun

It has been nice enough for the citrus trees to hang out outside. They are much happier this way.

Soaking up sun

Let us hope this a sign of spring really coming.

Monster

Yesterday, we were sitting in the same room as the lime tree, and I asked Daddy to see what was going on with a lime. From where I was, it looked wrong. Apparently it had split in half, something I didn't know limes would do. I knew it was getting a tad ripe, but splitting was new. 

Pooka saw the lime and decided it was a mouth and it wanted to talk to us. Daddy was convinced that it meant the lime tree was trying to say "feed me" which is his cue to get flamethrower (but aim it away from the house). Pooka refuses this theory and asked if she could put eyes on it.

I can see the mouth bit, but lets hope Caroline hasn't gotten that vocal yet. Let's all hope she doesn't get any ideas about trying to run the place. We may have to rename her GLaDOS if that is the case.

New Growth

Some days, you have to look for the little signs of spring. Especially on a very cold night in the middle of winter. And sometimes, it just jumps at you.

Caroline and Cave

 On that cold night, I saw a little sign of spring. Caroline the lime tree had some new growth on a branch.

That looks like new leaves

 Further inspection showed some flower buds and more new growth to go with it.

That is new leaves and a flower

In another section of the tree, you could see the flower buds and new growth right next to the ripening limes. Caroline might as well been jumping up and down saying "Spring, spring, I want spring."

We have flowers, fruit and new growth

Pooka took this as proof that Caroline liked being on Brother's desk, even if Brother wasn't too fond of the idea. I wish our lemon tree, Cave, would show some spring like moments, but I think he is just not as happy with the lack of sun. Then again, we did get some fruit tree fertilizer (organic of course) to put on both of them, so hopefully that will help as well.

Spring is coming, according to Caroline.

All in all, I think this shows that spring is coming. I am with Caroline, I want spring too. 

Lemon, lemon, lime

We got a lemon off our lemon tree. It only took 6 months to ripen, but I guess good things are worth the wait. We ended up using the lemon in a homemade apple pie that we took to a pot luck. Pooka loved telling people she grew the lemon in the pie.

Homegrown lemon

Our lemon tree, Cave, has a couple more lemons that are almost ready to harvest, as well as flowers and some smaller lemons that might be ready by christmas. 

Lots of lemons

Caroline even has a few limes on her that may get to a real size. I would love to be able to say "the lime in dinner came off our tree." We still have not gotten a lime off it in the first year we have had it, but I wonder if that had anything to do with the pot being too small. Now that Caroline has been transplanted into something larger, she is covered in limes. This is even after I pulled a few off in hopes they would get larger. 

Limes

I do wonder if Caroline and Cave may need larger pots next year. I think it may depend on how the look after the winter.  That is a decision that needs made another day. For now, Pooka is just enjoying her citrus trees.

Caroline in her pot

New home for Caroline

I have been saying this needed done since last year. Caroline the lime tree was basically in pot from the store for over a year. It was a good sturdy pot but I kept saying "we need to get a real pot for Caroline." I swore I had one so I didn't want to buy one. I just needed to make time for it.

Well, then one day Pooka and I went looking for the mysterious pot and could not for the life of us find it. We went through everything and Pooka wondered if Daddy was hiding it. (This is her answer anytime she can't find something, someone is hiding it.)

Then months ago we were at a different home improvement store looking for something. I found this pot, and no it wasn't on sale or clearance, but I had that moment of clarity that says "Hey, you need this for that."  I asked Pooka which one she liked and she said a green one. Pooka carried the pot up to the counter and we finally had a pot. Perfect, I thought, we can transplant Caroline the lime tree this week.

This week, turned into this month. This month turned into 2 months. Finally, I was potting things up in the yard almost 3 months after I got the pot. The pot had sat in the garage, waiting on me. I almost forgot again, but I looked over and remembered right as I was cleaning up. I told Pooka to get the pot.

So we potted Caroline into a new home. I swear somewhere I have pictures of all this. She was rather root bound, but in decent condition otherwise. There was a moment while Pooka tucked the dirt around her in the new pot you could almost here her say "AAAAAAHHHHH"

Caroline the lime tree in her new pot. 

However it has taken me a few weeks to get this post up. Timing is not my friend this year, but I am hoping that now we can start to play catch up and get back on track. In the meantime, Caroline has budded out with more limes. Here is to hoping we get some decent sized ones. I would love to say we are getting limes now.

Lemon oh lemon....

Cave Johnson finally produced a lemon, it just took 6 months. This is the same lemon that our lemon tree started in the early part of the summer.

Lemon oh lemon, how we have awaited thee.

It turned out to be decent sized, big enough to make our small tree start to lean to one side. It was very nice to see the warm yellow of the lemon against the snow of the polar vortex.

Leaning tree. 

During the "I left the camera somewhere" stint, we did cut into the lemon and ate it with dinner. It had a wonderful lemon flavor without being as acidic tasting as most lemons. Pooka is already dreaming of multiple lemons to make fresh lemonade with. I will be happy if we get a lemon every so often. Now to see how hard it is to keep the lemon and lime trees alive through a winter. 

Lime tree is flowering?

It is official, the citrus trees are as confused about this weather as I am. Caroline the lime tree has started flowering. Since we bought her on clearance, I have never seen her flower. Maybe I will help her along a bit and maybe even hand pollinate her flowers and hope for a few limes out of the deal.

Flowers on Caroline

Meanwhile, Cave Johnson is full of baby lemons again. That thing will flower and set fruit all day. The trick is getting the fruit to a size the rest of us can use would be nice. However, if this proves he will be very productive as he gets bigger, I am not completely against it. Pooka has dreams of making fresh lemonade with the lemons. 

Baby Fruit on Cave

 Granted, if the big lemon that has been on Cave all summer would ever ripen, that would be nice. I am tried of looking at it and guessing what it is doing. I don't think there is much I can do at this point. The white on cave's leaves are a bit of frost burn. It got a bit colder then we were ready for outside one night. Now Cave and Caroline get brought inside on cold nights and soon they will be moved inside for good. Maybe the lemon will ripen before then, or maybe we will get a lemon for christmas.

RIPEN ALREADY

A friend for Cave

If you will remember, for our anniversary, Daddy gave me a lemon tree. That Pooka and I quickly named Cave Johnson. We have one very good sized lemon growing on it, and it is a great giggle to say I own a lemon tree in the middle of the Midwest.

Hello, I'm Cave Johnson

Saturday, the whole family was at Lowes for their build and grow clincs. The kids love it and its free (what can be better). Well, I had to check the clearance areas. The garden center had a huge clearance area, and one of the things on clearance - the lime tree.

"Say Hello Caroline." "Hello Caroline"

We had seen this tree on clearance before, but it was only marked down $5. I wasn't really going to pay that so I decided to wait and check again. It seems to have been a smart move since on Saturday we found the same lime tree for only $10. What a deal. Needless to say we decided to bring home a friend for Cave Johnson. This one has been named Caroline, after the secretary to Cave Johnson in the game. At least Cave won't be lonely during the winter.