Time to pick the Meyer lemons

I confess to neglecting my poor Meyer lemon tree, and it is time to get around to finally harvesting this season's crop a bit late. I have a smaller crop than last year, and this may be for several reasons. The most obvious one is that I may need to repot the plant into a larger pot. We are not allowed to plant trees into the ground here in this community garden which is perfectly fine with me. Citrus requires a more acidic soil, and having the tree in a pot allows me to customize the soil.

But to be honest, perhaps the real reason why I have a smaller crop is that I have been less faithful in fertilizing it this last season. My usual schedule has been once a month, and this has fallen on the wayside the last half year.

I find it handy to have a Meyer lemon tree around. Although my lemons are on the smaller side, that's perfect for most recipes. I use Meyer lemons in my favorite Turkish rice recipe.

Chard grows well in our cooler months

To each its own season. The mainstay of my winter garden is chard, and it thrives in the cooler months. Not only that, in the winter, I don't worry about them bolting, a bad habit, which they will do in the summer. This plant was grown from seed on my balcony in late summer and transplanted.

Chard is underrated as a veggie. Lately, I chop chard leaves into little bits and throw them into warm soup at the last few minutes of cooking. In the summer, I saute minced garlic in extra virgin olive oil for a few moments until fragrant and then add chopped chard leaves until they wilt.

An abundance of Sungold cherry tomatoes

Some days, there is simply an abundance of Sungold cherry tomatoes. This was one of those days. Half were given to the local Boys and Girls club where they were made into tomato caprese skewers. The other half stayed with me, the tomatoes which split. They were cut in half, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, and slow-roasted in the oven for several hours. 200 F.