Kishu Mandarin Tree

Last Friday, I received this little beauty in the mail.  It's the latest addition to my growing potted citrus tree collection, which includes two Meyer lemons, a mandarinquate (I've done away with my non-bearing one), a Kieffer lime, a Seville orange and Bearss seedless lime.  Now I have this lovely little 'Kishu' mandarin, which is supposed to be one of the most prized in Japan.  I'd ordered it from Logee's, where I'd gotten my Kieffer lime, and I must say, I'm really happy with this specimen.  It has a nice form to it and came with a lots of new growth.  Hopefully I'll be able to shape this one into a nice looking tree.

Last month, I purchased some of the tastiest mandarins I'd eaten in a long time at our local coop.  The variety was called 'Pixie' and is available online through Four Winds Growers.  Kishu is supposed to be just as good if not better.  And if my little grafting experiment works out, I'll have more than one mandarin tree in a couple of years.

Citrus Experiment

 
Last month, I came across a sour orange at the supermarket and an idea stuck me.  From what I've read, most citrus root stock is grown from sour oranges - what variety, I do not know but I thought it would be fun to grow my own citrus root stock from seed and then try my hand at grafting.  I've been itching to broaden my gardening skills.

Two seeds have since sprouted.  I think it will be at least a year before this seedling is old enough for me use.  

Flowering Mandarinquat Tree

 
A few weeks ago, my mandarinquat tree started flowering like crazy.  I'd never had a citrus tree that did so as much.  The blooms ran all along the stems and filled the room with the most pleasant scent.


Hopefully this means that I'll get a semi-decent crop this year, and by that I mean a number greater than four, which is what I got last year.


Speaking of mandarinquat trees - I have two, though I'm a bit concerned about one.  I'd purchased them from an online nursery a couple of years ago and had expected that their growing habit would mirror one another.  In this picture, you can see that my 'good' tree has small narrow leaves and has flowered consistently during the past year.


My 'bad' tree produces wider larger leaves and has shown no indication that it will ever want to flower.  (They are lighter in color in this picture because they are new leaves.) It's also more vigorous in its growth than my good tree.  I've given my trees the same potting soil, same fertilizer and same growing conditions so I'm at a loss as to why my bad tree is not flowering at all.  All of the growth on my bad tree is happening above the graft line but I'm wondering whether it's still possible for a root stock to assert its characteristics here somehow.  It might be time to consult a professional.

Growing Citrus Collection - Bearss Seedless Lime

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking through the greenhouse house at Lake Street Garden Center in  Salem, New Hampshire when I spotted this little guy.  I wasn't expecting to see citrus plants for sale, especially in New England this time of year, but of course when I saw this Bearss lime, I had to get it.    It'll be another 2 years at least before this rooted cutting starts bearing fruit but having grown citrus trees now for past 4 years, I've learned to be patient when it comes to these things. 

Be warned - once you buy your first citrus tree, chances are you'll want more.  In addition to this Bearss lime, I have 2 Meyer lemon trees, 2 mandarinquats, a Seville orange, and a Kieffer lime.  Later this year, I'd like to get a couple different varieties of mandarin, like Owari Satsuma and Kishu.  Hopefully I'll always have a green room to accommodate my growing collection.  Otherwise, I'll be in BIG trouble.

And........We're Back

It's been almost two weeks since we've been in our new home. I'm happy to say that we finally have internet again!!! It took much longer to have service installed than we had anticipated. We decided to go with Burlington Telecom, the local cable company, instead of a national one. So far so good. I particularly like calling their customer service number and getting someone sitting in an office located a few blocks away from us as opposed to a computer or someone based in a foreign country. It's sort of a reminder of how things used to be.

One of the last things I did before leaving our old home was to pack up my citrus trees. All I really did was to remove them from their pots, brush away some excess soil, moisten the roots a bit and tied a trash bag around the root ball. This made transporting them much easier.


Three citrus trees really to be boxed.


I think they are enjoying our new home. Our small conservatory gets tons of warmth and light throughout the day. When I repotted my trees, I made sure to give them some fresh organic fertilizer. They seem to need it this time of year. Hopefully we'll get tons of new growth very soon.

Last Harvest of the Year - Citrus

I actually had a harvest this past week - five good sized Meyer lemons and a few Indio mandarinquats. This was officially the last one of the year and will soon be turned into marmalade today. I use this recipe but substitute half of the sugar with honey, which makes all the difference. Honey and lemons are a match made in heaven if you ask me.

December Citrus Blossoms

It happens like clockwork each year. My Meyer lemon tree is blooming again. If all goes well, these will develop into lemons, 1 to 3 per cluster, and be ready for picking next fall.

The lemons on my new tree are taking a little longer than expected to ripen. They should be ready in about a week - just in time to make marmalade for the holidays.

Fall Citrus

Right about this time every year, the fruit on my potted citrus trees begin to ripen. As you can see, the Meyer lemons are slowly beginning to shed their green exterior. Unfortunately, I will only have 5 to harvest this time around, unlike the 20 that I picked last year. This is just enough for one batch of marmalade. We still have several jars left over from last year so I'm not too disappointed about it.

Sadly, my Kaffir lime tree did not set any fruit this year and my Seville orange tree has yet to produce its first crop.


Of my two Mandarinquat trees, one has a handful of fruit. They are also beginning to change color. I'm really excited to try these for the first time. When it comes to growing potted citrus trees, patience is definitely a virtue. It will be several more years before they are mature enough to produce a good amount of fruit. Once they do, it will be fun to think of ways to cook and preserve them. I love candied citrus so candied mandarinquats will most likely be at the top of the list.

Potted Citrus Plants

It's that time of year again. Now that temperatures are reaching down into the low 40's F, we'll start the daily shuffle of bringing our potted citrus plants inside at night and back out again in the morning. Then sometime in late October or early November, they'll be moved indoors permanently - or more accurately until early May.

I haven't decided where to keep my plants indoors this winter. My concern is that they won't get enough natural light, which might partially explain my difficulties last year. I might come up with artificial set up in our basement to house them using the regular halogen lamps I use to start my transplants in the Spring. The last thing I want to do is up our electricity bill but it's an option we'll have to consider.

One think I've done differently this year is to prune my citrus plants heavily to ensure a bushier growth. It definitely makes housing them indoors more convenient.

I think I may have neglected to mention that I'd purchased a second Meyer lemon tree last spring. At the time, I wasn't sure whether my other tree was going to survive since by April, it had lost its leaves completely. This one is definitely more tree-like than my other one.

And this is what my other Meyer lemon tree looks like now. As you can see, it's nowhere as big or glorious as it was before. After it lost all of its leaves, I pruned the naked branches severely to encourage new growth. A few of the pruned branches died back even further but eventually, new leaves and branches did form. Despite our difficulties, this may have been a blessing in disguise as now the plant is growing into a bushier specimen.

When I repotted it last spring, I noticed that the roots looked rather unhealthy. Hopefully I can adjust the watering, lighting and heat indoors to encourage better root health this winter.

Sunbathing in March (I wish)

It wasn't exactly sunbathing weather this weekend but at least we're seeing highs in the upper forties again. Now is when I usually start doing the daily dance of bringing my citrus trees outside in the morning and back in when the sun sets unless the forecast is extraordinarily cold or windy. Citrus trees are generally hardy down to 32 degrees F and in my opinion, the added sun they get from being outside during the day outweighs the warmth they get inside. Spending the winter indoors zaps them of their strength and by early spring, they are starving for more sunlight. Maybe in a couple of weeks, I'll be able to keep them in the hoop house until late May as nighttime temperature are now hovering around freezing under the plastic.

My meyer lemon tree is at the far right - a shadow what it used to be. It lost about 70 percent of its foliage. When I checked the PH of the potting soil, it was off the charts high. I've read that citrus trees prefer soil that is on the acidic side. I pruned the tree back today to encourage new growth and will re-pot it with fresh potting mix and peat moss. Hopefully this will help.

My early seedlings went out for the day as well. I have a speckled variety of romaine lettuce (at the lower right) that is absolutely beautiful. Everything is growing really well and will be ready for the hoop house very soon. I still need to clean up the space and deal with the voles before doing so. You can see my artichokes at the top right. They are much healthier then last year's batch and no signs of aphids either (knock on wood).

Treating Yellowing Citrus Leaves

Quite a few leaves on my Meyer lemon tree (mostly on the side facing away from the window) have turned yellow and dropped. While some leaf drop is normal during the winter months, it's been a bit excessive this year, especially during the past few weeks. Leaf drop can result from insufficient sunlight or a lack of nitrogen. Yellow leaves with green veins (which doesn't seem to be the case here) can indicate an iron deficiency.

To rectify this, I moved my tree to a window that gets about 5 hours of direct sunlight a day, which is the best I can do. I also treated it with my slow release citrus fertilize. I have to remember that as my tree gets larger, I will have to feed it more often. At this point, I think I've gotten the problem under control. The yellowing has stopped and the tree is showings signs of new growth. How are your citrus trees doing this winter?

Anatomy of a Wild (Kaffir) Lime

I had all but forgotten about my one and only wild (or kaffir) lime. It had sprung from a flower that bloomed last spring. This weekend I decided to pick it in order to get a better look at the wrinkly specimen. Like the lime tree's leaves, the rind of this small firm fruit is incredibly fragrant. I was curious to see what it was like on the inside.


When I sliced it open, I was surprised to see so much pulp. I thought for sure there would be mostly rind. A closer whiff revealed a strong and complex lime scent unlike anything I'd experienced before. I tasted a bit of the juice and it was sour of course.

There's not much you can do with one lone lime so I decided to save it for maybe an after-work gin and tonic later on this week. If this year's harvest proves more fruitful, it'll be interesting to see what we can whip up with this unique lime.

The Last Harvest of the Year...Sort of

This will be the last harvest post before arrival of the winter solstice. In a lot of ways, December 21st will mark for me the end of one growing year (my first) and the beginning of another. Winter hasn't even officially started yet and already I'm looking forward to the increasing light. I've been feeling rather unmotivated during the past couple of months, but I'm sure this will change as the days grow longer again. Before you know it, our seed-starting shelves will be running at full capacity again.

Today I picked several Meyer lemons to make another batch of marmalade for Christmas. This time around, I think I'll add some vanilla to the mix.

I also cleaned up my carrot bed today and pulled the remaining few that the voles hadn't gotten to by now. They're rather pathetic looking but tasted mild and sweet nonetheless.

This week's numbers:
Meyer Lemons - 1.62 lb
Carrots 1.20 lb

Total harvest this week - 2.82 lb
Total so far this year - 690.28 lb

Meyer Lemon Update

My Meyer lemons appear to be ripening early this year. I expect that they will be ready sometime in October or early November. Last year, the lemons I harvested were enormous, resembling conventional Eureka lemons. This year, they are smaller and shaped more like your average Meyer.


I expect that we will be able to can as much marmalade as we did last year. They made awesome gifts and were consumed rather quickly. If you would like more info on how to grow citrus in pots, click here.

Kaffir Lime Blossoms

I'm really fascinated by my potted Kaffir lime tree at the moment. This is the first time it has flowered since I purchased it a year and a half ago. The buds have shades of hot pink, and as the petals open up, they stay interestingly cupped. Hopefully some of the fruits will set this year. From what I've seen on other blogs and sites, the fruit itself looks pretty wacky - the outer skin is wrinkled making them resemble little green brains.

I am a bit ashamed to admit that I have never harvested any of the leaves to cook with. Maybe I should make a point of doing so soon. They add an interesting lime flavor to stir-fries and soups and are very popular in Thai and Indian cooking.

Temperatures are supposed to get into the 90's here during the next few days. Hopefully, the warm weather crops will enjoy it. The peas on the other hand will start to melt away...such is the nature of things as summer fast approaches.

Happy growing everyone!

Garden Notes - Rabbit Troubles and Plant Updates

I've been having my fair share of rodent problems lately. It seems 2x4 inch wire mesh is not enough to keep the rabbits out, especially the baby ones. The adults seem to have a bit more sense. So far, they've picked over my soybeans, nibbled on several of my green beans, decapitated one rather large head of lettuce and corn stalk and shaved off one of my pepper plants. As a result, I will be spending my weekend putting up chicken wire all around the perimeter of my garden. Hopefully that will be more of a deterrent.


I really should have put more effort into growing flowers this year. The garden looks a bit too green at the moment. I've always loved the European potagers and their classic style of mixing edibles and ornamentals in unique patterns. Well...that will have to wait until next year.


The cut-and-come-again lettuce mix that I grew in my salad box a few months ago failed miserably. I really only have myself to blame as there was little to no fertility in the garden soil that I used. I will try again this fall with a mix of compost and potting soil. For now, I have little patch growing in the garden.


A year and a half after purchasing the small cutting, my Kaffir lime tree is flowering for the first time. Citrus blossoms never fail to get me excited. I'm curious to see how the fruit develops.


I'm not sure what type of lettuce this is but it's beautiful. I've enjoyed watching it grow. It resembles a butterhead but the leaves have a crispiness that is more reminiscent of iceberg. I think it's either Korean or Manoa. I will have to ask Winnie if she has any ideas as the seeds were from her.


The cranberries I planted out last year are beginning to flower and spread. The leaves are bright green at the moment but should develop into a bright burgundy as the fall approaches.

Finally, here's a look at my celery after they've been thinned down to one plant. I transplanted them out in clusters of 4-5 plants simply because I was too lazy to thin my seedlings. Now I'm glad that I didn't since in each cluster, there is always one plant that drastically outperforms the rest. And looking at the size of my celery, it doesn't seem like the crowded conditions have hurt them too much. I've been harvesting the thinnings to use in soups. Delicious! I think I'll stick to growing them this way.

Getting Back on My Feet

This weekend was the first time since Wednesday that I was able to get out of bed. Ironic that as temperatures were getting into the upper 80's, I was coming down with the worst case of the flu I've had in a very long time. As a result, I'm completely behind schedule on all of my gardening work and blogging. I had wanted to have a large section of lawn ripped up by now. I guess that will just have to wait until next weekend. Hopefully I'll be back to my usual self soon.


My newly purchased mandarinquat and Seville orange trees are blooming at the moment. It's interesting to see how the flowers differentiate from my Meyer Lemon. The mandarinquat blossom (top) is particularly interesting I think. At the moment, I'm battling tiny gnats that have seemingly sprung up from the soil mix that came with the trees. As a result, they have been spending most of their time outdoors. Soon, the rest of the citrus will follow suit.

In other news, I'm still battling the green aphids that came with my Chrysanthemum tea plants. I've found clusters of them on my eggplants, Roselle and artichokes. Aphids are easily killed individually or when found in clusters but difficult to eradicate completely. Hopefully they won't take hold in the garden. When the weather gets warmer, I will introduce a biological agent (like ladybugs) to help keep their numbers in check. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am that a company would send me infected plants.

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a Stevia plant (sweet leaf, sugar leaf). I've been meaning to write about this embattled herb for a while now. The leaves of the Stevia plant are naturally sweet, and extracts made from the plant are 300 times sweeter than sugar. No wonder the artificial sweetener industry worked so hard for decades to get Stevia banned as a sugar-substitute in this country. Hopefully things will slowly change now that Coca-Cola and Pepsi have expressed an interest in Stevia. I don't know about you but all of this sounds completely disheartening to me. Just another example of how our "free" markets can sometimes take away our freedom of choice.

Finally, I can't wait to catch up on all of your blogs. I don't mean to be neglecting my blogging friends. Hopefully, I'll be able to kick this illness soon.

My Own Private Citrus Orchard

I've been wanting to expand my Citrus collection for some time now. Even though natural light is a rare commodity in our cape style home, I thought I'd have a go at it anyway. My Meyer lemon and Kaffir lime trees have tolerated being indoors during the winter months with only 4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight per day. I'm sure that they will be much happier once they are set outside after our average last frost date (May 2).

On Wednesday, my two new trees arrived from Four Winds Growers. I had placed an order for an Indio mandarinquat tree (a cross between a mandarin and a kumquat) and a Seville orange tree a few weeks ago. As a gardener, I try to grow vegetable and fruit varieties that are hard to source locally or are unique in some way. These two definitely hit the mark.

As many of you already know, I am a huge marmalade fanatic. It would make sense than that I would want to grow Seville Oranges in order to make that quintessiantial English marmalade. I'm also looking forward to tasting my first mandarinquat, which is supposed to be sweeter and less sharp than an ordinary kumquat.


Hopefully, these trees will enjoy their new home. I potted them up using a cactus/citrus potting soil mix amended with some slow release organic citrus fertilizer (the brand I use is Growmore). Although somewhat pricey (the cost of these trees, including shipping, came to $70.00), Four Winds has a great selection of true dwarf citrus trees. Chances are good that they will have what you are looking for.

Chocolate Dipped Kumquats

As you may have noticed by now, I have a fascination with all things citrus. I've never visited a citrus grove before, but I'm sure I would love it. Maybe someday, I will move to a warmer climate and grow one of my very own.

I've recently become enamored by the pint-sized citrus fruit better known as the kumquat. We've devoured most of the candied kumquats I made a few weeks ago, which forced me to go out and buy some more while they are still in season. This time around, I also sugared some and then dipped them in melted milk chocolate. To say that these are addicting is an understatement.


The method for this is pretty straight forward. I began by simmering 4 cups of sliced kumquats in a simple syrup made from equal parts water and sugar (one and a half cups of each to be precise) for 15 minutes until they were tender and translucent. At this point, I removed them from the syrup using a slotted spoon, laid them out on a cookie sheet and then left them to dry in a 180 degree F oven. When they feel close to being done, I roll them in some sugar (which draws out even more moisture) and place them back into the oven to finish drying. After cooling for a couple of hours at room temperature, I dip them halfway into some tempered milk chocolate. Simple as that! And a great homemade Valentine Day gift if you ask me. The dried kumquats can be stored in the freezer until you are really to dip them.

Tip: You can skip the sugaring if you'd like when making these. You're also left with deliciously tangy citrus syrup to use in desserts and cocktails.

Snow Falls in January

This morning, we woke up to another 6 inches of heavy wet snow...so heavy that it pulled many of the pine branches down low to the ground. I had to duck in order to get to my compost pile. So much for the January Thaw. I wonder how long it will take for this latest batch to melt.


I'm trying to remind myself that in couple of months from now, all of this will be gone. There's still so much to do and think about before our last frost date. Hopefully, I'll find the time to work on my garden plan soon.



And while the world looks pretty bleak outside, a lemon tree still manages to flower.