Meyer Lemons!

I was wishing for lemons in our first season with this tree, but didn’t dare expect it. What a beautiful, fertile tree.

Saturday morning garden haul: green and orange peppers, Cherokee Purple tomatoes, summer squash, green beans, and cucumbers.

We passed Race Rock lighthouse on our travels over Long Island Sound Sunday. It’s said that this lighthouse is haunted. Maybe, but it sure is creepy looking.

Post tag sale recovery: my husband and I on the boat Sunday. It was an especially great day for the ocean!

This morning’s breakfast was a mono-meal of fat, sweet, organic cherries.

We had a busy and fun weekend. Our tag sale was a success. We made enough money to meet our goals: to have our Lily Dawa professionally groomed, get a birthday present for my husband, and make a donation to the no-kill animal shelter. A lot of possessions were released, and we’re breathing easier. Unsold things are going to be picked up by a friend’s church for their annual raffle. Total win.

Yesterday, we went out on the boat for the whole day. We’re both sunburned again. My skin will be happy when summer is over (but I won’t). Then, I made an amazing, fresh-from-the-garden vegan dinner.

Garden tomatoes are coming in like crazy now, so I boiled some fettucine, and after it was cooked, tossed in chopped tomatoes, our own garden spinach, garlic, arugula, basil, and parsley, then added some fresh dill and olive oil. The tomatoes rendered a yummy pink sauce. Everyone, including the dogs, hogged it all.

But the big news – ERMAHGERD! -  is that a cluster of lemons has appeared on our Meyer lemon tree! This is awesome. I had wished for lemons in our first season, but didn’t dare expect it.

Keeping it well-nourished and giving it plenty of hot summer sun has done good things for this beautiful tree. Phosphorus is what’s needed to encourage flower and fruit production, so I’m going to ease back on the nitrogen, and give it a diet of phosphorus for the rest of the season.

Funny thing at the tag sale. We had lots of books for sale, almost exclusively gardening books and cookbooks. The number of gardening books prompted buyers to ask who the gardener in the house is. That led to a lot of gardening talk all day, with me giving advice for this person’s diseased cabbage patch and onions, that person’s flowerless morning glories, and someone else’s withering Brussels sprouts. I think I talked about the magic of neem oil for an hour straight. It was great.

Lots of visitors loved our gardens and wanted to visit them. Gardens are a magnet for people. I wish we could recall that enchantment every day, recognize it as our oneness with the natural world, and apply that reverence to our relationship with Mother Earth. Imagine how things would be.

Live in peace.