Jean B. wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
>> Jean B. wrote:
>>> James Silverton wrote:
>>>> Hello All!
>>>>
>>>> Today, I was in my local Balduccis, the best and probably the most
>>>> expensive "gourmet" store. They had what I wanted: dates but there
>>>> were some other interesting things like "giant lemons", really as
>>>> big as grape fruits. I did not try these but they also had "sweet
>>>> limes" and I bought one even if they were $5.99 a pound. They looked
>>>> somewhat like limes with smooth yellow skins but had little lime
>>>> taste being like not very juicy seedless oranges. You can keep them
>>>> in my opinion.
>>>>
>>> Assuming the lemons don't lack flavor, they could be useful. The
>>> limes don't sound like my cup of tea though. For one thing, I like
>>> the tartness of limes.
>>>
>> The lemons sound like Ponderosa lemons, supposedly a sport between
>> lemons and grapefruit or one of the other citrons. We have a tree on
>> the south side of our garage and it makes lemons as big as three
>> pounds on occasion. The skin is thick and bumpy and the lemon has a
>> great many seeds. The seeds are viable and, if planted, will grow into
>> another Ponderosa lemon tree. I've grown hundreds of them over the
>> years to give away and also to sell at our annual plant sale when we
>> still had them. Make a nice tree with some thorns on the branches. In
>> the south they're prone to citrus rust mites but are easily treated
>> with sulfur in a spray. We put up about 20 quart bags of lemon juice
>> cubes every fall and enjoy "fresh" lemon juice in tea, water, etc. all
>> year. Wife makes lovely lemon pies from the juices and I keep a bottle
>> in the fridge for use in cooking.
>
> I don't think I have seen those around the Boston area. I do have a
> kaffir lime, but it is visiting someone who has a solarium until it can
> go back outdoors sometime next spring. Sometimes one must envy those of
> you who can actually plant such things outside (and have them survive).
>
We get about two months of really nice weather here in SW Louisiana, one
in early March or April, another in October. The rest of the year it's
mostly 96 to 105F with humidity of 96%. Right now it is winter. We
actually had 43F this morning, warming up to 67F. <Grin>

I spent a few months in the Boston Navy Yard in the fall of 1959 and
then a year at Newport, RI. Boston was a nice city then except for
Scully Square, aka "The Combat Zone." Someone told me it is a parking
garage now. Newport was a Navy town pretty much with lots of bars and B
girls but the countryside was nice. Wouldn't have wanted to live up
there in New England though, got to cold for this old Middle Coast boy.
Nice to visit in the spring or fall though.

We're still harvesting sweet and hot chiles, cherry tomatoes, lettuce,
eggplant, the cabbage is growing well as is the broccoli. We will be
picking kumquats this week and harvesting the lemons to boot.

This is a big country and lots of climate zones to enjoy. I guess we all
mostly like where we live or we would move elsewhere. I will never live
where it gets really cold as I am housebound at temperatures below
freezing. I have angina and it really hurts me when the temps get low,
not to mention what it does to my arthritis. Getting old is hell but a
lot better than the alternative.