One thing that has made things more bearable has been the Meyer lemon tree that I ordered in September of 2010. Here it is on our patio shortly after it arrived shipped in a 5 gallon container.
Now some people, like Mr. Smarty Plants, who gives regular advice on planting stuff in Illinois, may think I'm off my rocker to try to grow a tropical plant in the middle of USDA 6b zone. Truth is, I'm not crazy, just homesick or crazily homesick.
You see, one of the first things my parents did when they bought their house, besides dealing with a major plumbing issue, in Los Angeles was to plant a Meyer lemon tree. I was 9 years-old at the time, and that tree and I were both the same height. Later that year, LA had one of its coldest winters, and that tree lost all of its leaves and branches to the point where it looked like a stick in the mud. But thankfully, that spring it came back with a vengeance. Sure enough, the next winter we had our first of what would be many prolific crops of super-sweet lemons.
The Meyer lemon tree in my parents front yard was one of the better memories I have of my childhood. I remember whenever my mom or grandma made a dessert that called for vanilla, I was promptly sent outside to pick a lemon or two for its peel. Adding lemon peel to any dessert that calls for vanilla, if it doesn't involve chocolate, is one of the secrets of the great chefs. The two flavors together are nothing but pure magic.
I remember putting up white Christmas lights on the tree and seeing these bright yellow fruits all but make the tree look like a Christmas tree in its own right.
One light-hearted scene that comes to mind, despite being frightened at the time, was watching all the overripe lemons falling out of our tree and hitting the ground during the many aftershocks from the Northridge Quake which occurred on January 17, 1994. We lived roughly 5 miles from the epicenter, and the shaking was intense. And by "intense" I mean enough to move both our stove and refrigerator a full 3 feet from the wall. It was also enough to toss organ pipes of the local church right through the stained glass window behind them. That quake was no joke: 57 seven people lost their lives and many more followed in the days to come. Thankfully, my family and friends got through it unharmed.
My husband also was none too happy to find out that I had spent nearly a hundred dollars, with shipping and all, to get a plant that he is most likely allergic to. He's allergic to pretty much anything that grows in the ground, so at first it stayed outside.
I found a guide on the internet with advice about growing a lemon tree indoors. There's also a video I found on youtube. I knew it wasn't for the faint of heart, but hey, at least I hadn't killed my orchids yet right?
So I planted the tree in a 20 gallon pot, more than enough for it to have room to grow and expand using Miracle Grow Moisture Control soil(just in case I forget to water it). It stood outside on our patio until Mid November when we brought it in. That's when we started running into problems: my cat thought it was a second litterbox.
At first I figured I'd just cover the soil with a plastic bag. The end result was a couple of months later, the tree started to develop white fungus at the base of the root. When I discovered that, I went into a panic. The local nursery gave me neem oil to dilute and spray saying it was a safe organic fungicide and insecticide. While I was checking out the tree, I also found out I it had a massive scale problem. After spraying it for months, the fungus went away but the scale bugs kept coming back to the point where the leaves were falling out. The neem oil didn't seem to bother them as much as it bothered the tree, whose little green lemons started falling off from the moment I started spraying it.
In order to get rid of the bugs, I ended up having to check over every inch of every leaf and branch every morning and pick them off one by one by hand. After almost 9 months of constant vigilance, the scale bugs gave up and I had a healthy tree again.
We eventually solved our cat problem by putting screen mesh over the soil and securing it to the pot with a bungee cord. The tree stays outside 3 out of 4 seasons, and it is brought in from November to April. This year my tree produced for the very first time.
11 Lemons in all: 4 were given to my voice teacher. 3 went into the marinade for my Christmas turkey, and there are still 4 left.
I use lemons for a lot of things: including facial masks. Although my husband is isn't exactly happy about having to shlep the darned thing back and forth twice a year, I'm glad I it's here. It's a little piece of California growing in my basement.
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