Sunday, October 3, 2010

Lime Harvest

I went out to look at my potted Bearss lime tree this morning.  Lots of limes have been ripening over the course of summer and fall.


I gently squeezed a few of them and they were just slightly soft.  They have also started to lighten from dark green to light green.  Both of these are signs that they are ripe.  Surprisingly limes are actually fully ripe when yellow.  But I heard that they are picked earlier so the average consumer can determine the difference between lemons and limes in the store.  Not really sure if this is true.


I picked 6 limes and left another 20+ limes on the tree for harvesting later.  My lemons and calamondin oranges are not ripe yet, but that's okay with me because I want to extend the citrus harvest for a few months.  So far so good.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Limes in Tidewater! Impressive. I'm not sure I'm committed enough for that. Glad I found your blog. I enjoy focused blogs...I get lost in the personal details of other blogs. Loved the idea of looking at Colonial Williamsburg for ideas reposted it on our meetup site and gave you credit (hope I remembered the link...)

Thanks! Melissa

Melissa

Veggie PAK said...

Congrats on your blog! It's really good! You've been blogging for years, but I have only started this past memorial day.
My blog address is:
http://www.backyardorganicvegetables.blogspot.com/

I really enjoyed your blog. I agree completely with your micro farm committment, as I have one of my own. I created my micro farm where I just used to cut the grass. What a waste lawn areas are, except for the clippings for compost.

I hope this comment post finds its way to you. I still can't explain to people that ask me how to leave a comment. Perhaps you could share some insight on that with me. My email address is: veggiegardenblogger@gmail.com

In addition to not being able to tell folks how to leave a comment, I also can't seem to post a video to my blog, although I've done it twice. Neither time the same way. The second time, I posted it to You Tube first, and then it worked, but it sure scrambles the HTML formatted text! I can use a computer pretty well, and I love Excel spreadsheets for tracking my garden progress, but I am NOT a programmer by any stretch of the imagination.

Anyway, keep up the good work with the garden and the blog. It's very hard to find a vegetable garden blog that isn't turned into a business site. Not to knock that, but I'm only interested in garden info that will help me increase the yield from my organic vegetable garden.

Sorry for the long comment.

Veggie PAK

Anonymous said...

Just moved to the Norfolk area and am very interested in setting up a first vegetable garden. Any advice on good websites or books that could get me started?

.09 Acres said...

Veggie PAK,
Thanks for checking out the blog! I visited your blog too. I'm glad to see practical info on your site as well. I find it very helpful to see what other people are planting in the same growing region. It helps to learn from them and I'm hoping that what I post on this blog is helpful to others. Good luck extending your harvest into the colder months.

.09 Acres said...

Anonymous,
Sorry for the delay in responding to your comment. An extremely helpful site is USEFUL GARDENS. It is linked on the right-hand side of my blog. Sybil is amazingly knowledgeable. She grows in Virginia Beach, not too far from Norfolk. She has plant info, seasonal info, etc. And great images too. You might also want to visit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (www.southernexposure.com). They are based in Mineral, VA and provide seeds for plants that thrive in our area. Lots of heirloom varieties.

The plants I have in the garden will also do very well in Norfolk. If any of these crops interest you, let me know and I can provide you with more info about cultivating them.