We have three fruit trees in our backyard. I should mention that we are renting a home and so the trees came with the house– if it were up to me, they would have died from lack of watering. I have been extremely apprehensive about eating the fruit off of these trees. I told Andy to go first, but he hasn’t yet.
The top one is the lemon/ lime tree. We aren’t sure as to what type of fruit it has been growing since the green appears to be more of a light yellow. The taste test did not help out — they are somewhere in between. We call them the limons.
The bottom left tree is a grapefruit tree, I think. It looks like it is diseased (can you see the leaves turning colors- certainly the leaves should be green and surely not a mystical yellowish/tannish/brownish). Finally, there is the orange tree. Typically, the neighbor’s cat, the mischievous little backyard gopher or the skunk in hiding seems to be beneath the oranges (the leaves are always shaking). I am just so squirmy (er, girlie) and don’t want to throw myself into the bush (even though I am sporting three large bruises on my arm for becoming an "elevator martyr" last weekend at the mall… another story for another time) to basket the fruit to eat.
What it comes down to is this: I just don’t trust the fruit. The branches are beginning to hang
low to the ground due to the heaviness of the fruit. I refuse to pick
the fruit since I am so leary of eating it. I haven’t talked myself into
the safety of plucking, peeling and eating home grown fruit yet without being diseased, sprayed or bitten myself.
8 Comments
I once had a lemon tree when I lived in California. Now I live in freezing cold eastern Washington and I’m telling you right now - you have to at least go out and pick those pretty fruit and put them in a bowl. You don’t have to eat them - but you simply must enjoy the fact that you live in a climate warm enough that you CAN PICK CITRUS FRUIT OUT OF YOUR OWN BACK YARD!!!
There. You’ve been told.
you can hire a tree expert (arborist?) to examine your trees. he/she can probably give you a thumbs up or down on the quality of the fruit.
i totally understand being squeamish though. who knows what previous tennants could have done to the poor little trees in the past. crazy renters! hee-hee!
i’m with cathy. i almost hate you for having an orange tree in your back yard. i am that jealous. lol. if i were there i’d be eating them every day. LUCKY GIRL!
You have to get pickin’ girl! Andrew’s favorite thing to do is make new recipes for juice. It always seems to include lots of sugar and sticky floors, but it’s always mmmmmmmmm good! I just take my weird leaves to our locally owned garden center. They always know what’s going on. Sometimes they just need a little food:) I always forget to take care of them-bad girl. Take your pics in, too and they’ll show you how to trim them. Now this was a novel…sorry
At least they look pretty! I agree with Cathy. Why don’t you put some in a bowl. It would make a pretty picture, I bet
Oh, Susie, I have to tell you, the oranges off the orange tree at our last home were the best I’ve ever tasted, and no one was poisoned from eating it. But we made my husband’s best friend try it first. Ha ha.
We have a lemon/orange hybrid here that is sour but makes good juice if you sweeten it, and a regular lemon tree that is very handy.
Go for it! Try it! They’re protected by those thick skins. Just scrub ‘em first and throw out any fruit that is open.
a place we were going to rent when we moved here had a lemon/lime tree - must be a rented thing:)
Oh my goodness, to have citrus trees in my own yard. That would be heaven… mmmmmmm.