December 13, 2014

Lemons!

My little Meyers lemon tree, currently residing on the back porch

I'm going to have a real lemon harvest this year! I've had my Meyers lemon tree for about five years and barely get but two or three lemons each year, if any.  This year I probably paid the least attention to it, even wondering if it was worth keeping. And look! Nine lemons! That means Lemon Cream Pie for Christmas! What a treat. :)

Lemons! © December 2014 by Leigh
at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

27 comments:

Dani said...

I think what you call Lemon Cream Pie is what I know as Lemon Curd.

Lucky you - all my lemon blossoms got blown off with the wind, so my lemon trees are still bare of fuit...

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

oooh if only!! I wish we could grow lemons. I use such a lot.
Dani mentions lemon curd. Here in the UK that is a preserve made with eggs, butter and sugar. Is it the same there? My other favourite recipes for lemons are lemon meringue pie and lemon drizzle cake
Gill

Quinn said...

Yum! What time should I be there, Leigh? I LOVE a homemade lemon pie and that one sounds like a real winner!!

Leigh said...

Dani, this is one of the few times all my blossoms didn't fall off! Very thankful for that. See my comment about the lemon curd below.

Dani and Gill, I've seen "authentic" British lemon curd over here, but it isn't something most Americans are familiar with. Most lemon pies are lemon meringue, and use water and cornstarch for the lemon filling. My lemon cream is a very old recipe, from my great-grandmother, using milk instead of water (hence the "cream") with either cornstarch or flour. Both types use the egg whites for a meringue. I see that the curd uses no water or milk, just eggs and butter. Interesting! I dearly love lemon and must try a lemon curd this year.

Quinn, this one is the absolute best IMO. It's tarter than most, i.e. truly lemony, which I love. Most of the lemon meringue pies I've had are sweeter and taste only slightly lemon flavored. Blah!!!!

Off-Grid Homestead said...

This is fantastic!

DFW said...

Woo Hoo!

Farmer Barb said...

After living in California and having 13 different types of citrus trees in my yard, I bought some trees to keep in pots. CT is NOT CA. The planting medium ended up harming the roots by making them water logged. I called Four Winds Growers (the supplier) and they said to haul the trees out, cut off 1/3 of the roots and replant them in cactus mix. I also pruned off almost everything. Basically one leaf per tree. I have been rewarded with 37 blossoms on my Genoa lemon and the other three are busy making leaves. They live indoors over half the year, so I pollenate them with a paint brush. Anyone can do it, you just have to really WANT it. Too much fertilizer will burn every leaf on the plant which is why you need cactus mix. It drains out the best.

My British mother-in-law has a great recipe for lemon curd. You end up keeping it moving to avoid making scrambled eggs with lemon and sugar. It is AWESOME!!! Hubby grew up with lemon curd tarts for dessert. (slab of pastry with lemon curd in the depression he made with his thumb!)

Leigh said...

Off-Grid Homestead and DFW, thanks!

Barb, Recipe! Recipe! LOL. Very interesting about the lemon trees. I haven't tried hand pollinating my one, but that usually isn't the problem the problem is usually that the teeny tiny baby lemons usually fall off before maturing. I really don't have a good place for this mini-tree. It resides outside in summer and on the back porch in winter. Glad I kept it, though.

Meredith said...

Congratulations! That's great!

Su Ba said...

Those lemons are going to taste the BEST! That's so wonderful that you were successful this time. If you ever decide to try a lime tree, consider the Tahitian lime. Lots of great juice and no seeds.

Mark said...

Good for you! They look wonderful, and being "homegrown" always makes it better.

Michelle said...

Congratulations!!! I've wanted to try a lemon tree, but have to place for it indoors.

Crustyrusty said...

Good deal! We got 4 good lemons off our tree this year, and 5 limes. We're getting there :-)

Chris said...

Where there's a will, there's a way!

Have you heard the wives tale about peeing on your lemon tree? Apparently they love the nitrogen. ;)

Mike Yukon said...

I'm not surprised at the time that has gone by before you finally got a harvest. I have Key lime Trees and it took 10 years to produce. They always grew a small handful and all of a sudden I had a shopping cart full and had a hard time giving all the extras away.

Ngo Family Farm said...

Ah, so there's hope for mine yet! I almost gave up on it this year too, but it still has leaves so it got to stay, LOL. My potted blueberries, however, I've totally given up on. We just really don't have the climate for it, and I can't bear another year of energy wasted for zero harvest. Pick your battles, eh?
-Jaime
P.S. And I love lemon desserts too! Want to try yours and Barb, yours too, please!!

Kev Alviti said...

My girls will eat lemons like oranges. Id love to be able to grow them here.

Dani said...

Leigh - You can even spread lemon curd on toast like jam :)

Sandy Livesay said...

Leigh,

Now that's a lovely Meyer lemon tree. Do you just leave your tree in front of a window during the winter? I've wanted to get a Meyer lemon tree for ages. Never had one, and didn't know exactly where to place it during the winter since we are limited on windows in this house.

Leigh said...

Meredith, thanks!

Su Ba, Tahitian lime? we do like limes. Is it a dwarf tree I could grow indoors?

Mark, oh yes, homemade is better in so many ways. :)

Michelle, I have that problem too, about a place for it indoors. We have too many shade trees around so nothing grows well in the house. :(

Crustyrusty, some years it's like that but when the harvest comes, it's oh, so worth it. :)

Chris, I'd not heard that about nitrogen, or peeing on it. Methinks that would have to be Dan's job, LOL

Mike, wow, 10 years? I'd love to have limes too. I used to have a banana tree, but it got too big and heavy to move inside during winter.

Jaime, I'm hoping Barb will post that recipe too. :)

Kev, technically I can't grow them either but this one has done fairly well as a potted plant that has to live indoors in winter.

Dani, oh my, I'm convinced. I wonder if it can be canned???

Harry Flashman said...

I like that lemon tree. We used to have a lemon tree in our yard, when I was a kid. My mom would pick the lemons and make lemonade for us.

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

So neat that you are getting a few lemons. Mine would have to be brought into the house in the winter and I don't really have the room. Enjoy! Nancy

Chris said...

It's tradition Leigh, Dan simply must Christen that tree. ;)

Simply Handmade Farmhouse said...

How neat! It was worth the wait! A Beautiful lemon tree. Enjoy your lemons.

Anonymous said...

I grew up with a prolific lemon tree that benefitted from frequent child urination. Our last house had a lemon tree absolutely riddled with gall wasps but after emptying out the composted cat litter onto its roots it went simply MENTAL! I have a small one that has been clinging to life in the greenhouse here but recently dumped several handfulls of blood n bone around its roots and I've been well rewarded for the love given it.
I've grown up with what we call lemon butter (lemon curd) and lemon meringue pies. Mums were either so sickly sweet they couldn't be eaten even by a sugar fiend such as I was, or so tart that there wasn't enough sugar in the meringue to make it even vaguely edible. The meringue also seemed to be pruned by little fingers in the fridge so there wasn't much left edible on top of the pie (blushes).
Good luck with your lemons Leigh. :)

Leigh said...

Harry, having enough lemons to make lemonade would be awesome! I confess to being rather stingy with these, they all go to pies!

Nancy, that's actually my problem too and why it hasn't done very well, I think. It's on the back porch now, which is unheated. I figure if it at least survives then I haven't killed it yet, LOL.

Chris, reading that and Jessie's comment below has turned me into a believer!

Teresa, and they make the most beautiful, fragrant flowers!

Rabidlittlehippy, then there you have it! Chris was right. Nobody's been peeing on it but I have started to water it with the water leftover from stretching my mozzarella. That has quite a bit of whey in it so I wonder if it was just enough and the right kind of nitrogen to make a difference. Hmm. I never would have put it together without this comment conversation!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! Love lemon pie!

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