In the past, I had always assumed when life handed someone lemons, as in the cliche, it must be a negative thing, but gardening has changed my view of life and lemons. I’m actually hoping, very much, that life will be handing me lemons this year.
Back in June of 2011, I got my first Meyer lemon tree, if you could call a brown, leafless stick a tree. It was more like a thin switch at the time, but it has made tremendous growth. The little tree flourished even during the terrible drought last summer.
In September, I repotted my lemon tree and brought it into the house for the cold weather months. I keep it in my kitchen and watch over it, and just before Christmas it surprised me by budding up to bloom.
The small tree was covered in these smooth white buds, and in a few days they began to open up.
This was the first bud to open, revealing my very first lemon blossom and causing me some gardener’s excitement. I did what any proud parent would do – I grabbed my camera and captured the moment.
Caring for this lemon tree has been something like a parenting experience for me. Just like with a new baby, I have nurtured and cared for this little one, hoping that I’m doing the right thing to help it grow. I have read about lemon trees, but I’m not sure I really know much about them. I’m just doing the best I can day by day, kind of like I did when I was raising my children.
So will I get lemons this year? I still don’t know, but the signs are looking good. I do know one thing, if my lemon tree gives me lemons, I won’t be using them to make lemonade. I’ll use my lemons to make a Meyer lemon tart. Here’s hoping 2013 will hand me lemons!
All images and text copyright © 2021 Sugar, Spice and Spilled Milk/Aunt Nubby’s Kitchen.Blogspot.com
Best of luck with your lemon tree! I so wish I had one window in the house that would give enough sunshine to keep a lemon tree happy during the winter! I too hope you get plenty of lemons-enjoy:@)
Anita, I got a lemon from my tree!!! I brought mine in and it is budding, too. I'll have to send you a pic. I think you're going to get lots of lemons 🙂
What a fun project!