Little baby oranges

Remember when I blogged a couple of weeks ago about orange blossoms?  The blossoms are gone, and you can see little eensy-teensy oranges.  Yes, I promise you, these will be the oranges that will grow up to make us juice next March.  Promise.


They all won't necessarily get there.  Some fall off. Some just don't develop.  Overall, though, the tree will be loaded with juicy fruit.










Just to give you some perspective, those green "buttons" are about the size of a pea right at the moment.  They will be "full grown" in late fall, then will start to turn orange.

(And while I was taking these pictures, my little tree reminded me to fertilize him.)

Grapefruits are ready

There are a few things I like about living in Florida.  My most favorite thing is being able to wear flip-flops (almost) all year round.  One of the next things that rank right up there is being able to have my own citrus trees.  It is with glee that I discovered this past weekend that my grapefruits are ready!

My tree is only about 4 1/2 feet tall.  I don't remember quite when I planted it, but I think it was about 5 to 6 years ago.  I was afraid it died the first year I planted it as we had a cold snap come through the first winter it was planted.  It looked really wilted for almost a year.  It has come out of it's shell pretty nicely and this year produced 15 grapefruits.

Believe it or not, my kids like eating them too.  The fruit off the tree from 2 years ago was their first time trying them.  I thought for sure they would find them too tart, but to my surprise, they gobbled them up.

Since I've only got a few this year, I'll be eating them as fruit.  In a few years when they're "coming out of my ears, I'm sure I'll be making grapefruit marmalade or something similar.

Brrr....this cold weather

So I have taken some ribbing from other friends this week when they hear me mention that "it's cold". They remind me I live in Florida, so how bad can it be? I counter that any day I can't wear flip-flops is a tragedy. (tongue in cheek of course) I must admit that I when I moved to Florida 12 years ago, I didn't think I would still be here. Funny how that works out.

So I thought I would also share another use for art show tents and canopies. With the cold this week, I couldn't take the chance of my orange tree freezing, so I've covered it with the tent and have a light inside to generate some heat. I'm not a horticulturist by any means, but this tree and I have a nice little relationship. He provides me with orange juice once a year, so the least I can do is help to keep him warm on the really cold Florida nights.

(For perspective, the tent is 10 feet tall in the center.)


This is my tree from the inside. He fills it up pretty well; we had to tuck several branches inside. There's not much room to sell jewelry!











The oranges have been turning color for the last month. They won't be ready until the first of March or so. These are Satsuma oranges, which are juice oranges. (They are thin-skinned and don't peel well.) I generally pick them off as I need them. We're lucky to have fresh juice daily for about 2 to 3 weeks.