Starting the New Year

I had a big debate with myself about what the first blog of a new year should look like and although I'm not sure an internal decision was made, I decided to "go forward with faith" as I like to say and see what happens.

I know many of us gardeners right now are looking forward to spring and what the next growing season will bring and, I am among those folks!  I for one am really glad I did some seed saving last year, and actually throughout the winter I have done some seed saving as well.  Prices have gone through the roof it seems for some of our favorite seeds.  I was able to save seed for the Tabasco Peppers that Reed grew, a couple of acorn squash, and the Halloween pumpkin we had.  I also saved a couple of heirloom tomatos as well.  This is also a good activity to practice with your kids in the garden.  We  have a rule with berries here at Wicked Raven that we leave some for the birds, bees and bears as well.  It's a good habit to teach the kids that we have to leave a little to maintain the diversity of our area, and so that nature can take care of her space.

The other item I am really happy to have, although it was not a saved seed plant is the Lemon Tree - Meyer of course! The one shown is from Mile 5.2 Greenhouse in Eagle River Alaska and we have had it for two winters now. We feed it worm juice (oh thats right~ I promised you a worm blog didn't I - next time)! We feed it about 3 times per year and it sits in front of the French doors that face east and get lots of light even on the darkest day!  We do not supplement the light at this time - simply due to cost and wanting to make sure that the plants we are promoting are sustainable for our region.

The taste of the lemons we harvested from the first season with this tree was phenomenal!  I have not had a better lemon for flavor and texture.  We got 6 lemons off the tree the first season but I think I may have depleted the nutrients badly as it has taken the tree a bit to recover from that amount.  We are definitely in the learning process with lemons.  If it happens again that it sets that many I think I will cut some blossoms to keep the tree healthier.

Cut lemons store in the fridge for easy use in tea, cookies, water, or other fun recipies.

We have now added an additional two lemon trees, and Reed has a mandarin tree that is thriving  in our indoor orchard!  With careful watering practices - you have to put a finger in the dirt before watering these trees or you will over water - you can have your own indoor fruit orchard as well!  It is also a great lesson for kids so they know they can grow all year anywhere!

Other plants that we keep year around indoors here are Rosemary, Sage, Epazote, Greek Myrtle, and we also have a couple of avacado trees.  The avacado trees are not old enough to produce yet - we will keep you posted on those and I will discuss growing the other herbs in a later blog ~ stay tuned and have a blessed New Year!

This is the beautiful lemon blossoms (there are two here).  They smell so amazing and fill the living room with their smell - nothing better!  I use a paintbrush to polinate them even though they are self polinating I like to make sure they get what they need so they can produce those amazing lemons!