Remember the Grapefruit Tree?

Yeah. My dead brown thumb strikes again. At least this time is wasn't lethal (yet).

See for yourself:

Grapefruit tree on January 13




Grapefruit tree on March 2


Huh. There seems to be less...um...foliage. I was told at the nursery that overwatering a grapefruit tree will kill it. I have a history of neglecting to water my plants, so this sounded like a match made in heaven. This time, I *intentionally* let the soil get good and dry before I watered it again. I'm good right?

It turns out, that when dealing with citrus, they'll survive fine with little water, but if they get too dry, the next time you water them they get all confused and all the leaves fall off. Gah!

The proper procedure is to water evenly every few days. Especially with a container grown citrus, because they dry out faster. Wish someone had mentioned that. So now, I have a bit of a Charlie Brown Grapefruit Tree.

I know it's not dead since, 1) it has a bunch of new leaves (since I started watering it properly) and 2) it has a ton of blossoms. It smells fantastic. It just doesn't provide shade the way it used to. Let's call it, shade challenged.

I just want to keep it alive long enough to get a single fruit from it this year. One. Single. Grapefruit. Is that too much to ask?

When vacant lots give you lemons.

Reason #3 that I like Phoenix.

Across the street from Midwestern University (where Justin is working) there is a lemon grove. It's on property that belongs to Midwestern that they are not currently using, effectively a vacant lot. So, if one is so inclined, one can just walk on over there and pick whatever lemons you want.

Citrus is a weed here. How cool is that!

So, one day we stopped and picked a bunch of lemons. 'Cuz we could.

Then we let the baby play with them. 'Cuz we could. But it was cute.





And then I tried to get a picture of Jus, and this is what he gave me:



All told, we had way more fun than 5 free lemons ought to provide.