Hidden Trophy

After signing our lease, we were given an inventory sheet to complete, documenting the move-in condition of the house. While examining the condition of the back fence and sprinkler system, I realized that one of the two prominent bush/tree things was covered in limes upon closer inspection! From the house, they totally blended in with the leaves, making them a huge and absolutely SPLENDID surprise!

I suppose it wouldn't make much difference to some people, but we buy limes quite frequently for beverages, guacamole & other Mexican-influenced recipes, and desserts. Plus, it just feels exotic and exciting to us born city-slickers to harvest our own fruit!

At first, we picked limes on an as-needed basis. But we quickly discovered they're rock hard off the branch, and yield a lot more juice, with much less effort, after they've sat out for a week. The bush/tree was rather unruly looking too, so we decided to start pruning it a couple weekends ago and simply take all the limes from the branches we chopped, allowing them to ripen. We got a large serving bowl's worth:


(I think there was close to 30 limes in this bowl, although some were fairly small.) The tree was still smothered with limes, and continued to lean strangely from wayward branches. But since our yard waste bin ran out of space, we waited another week to finish the pruning.

Sometimes we don work gloves, but they aren't always a match for the seriously wicked thorns along the branches. As you can see, some of the needle-sharp spikes are several inches long, and even if they aren't, they'll make up for it with extra fine tips.

Lime trees aren't just sharp- if you're not careful, they could become sticky! Our yard & neighborhood is home to many, many snails. Most of the ones on the tree stick to the leaves, but I just managed to see this tiny guy clinging to a lime destined for the house. I'm not a fan of these gooey varmits typically, but this li'l one was so small, I couldn't help but think he was kinda cute. (That's the tip of my index finger, for scale.)

Like I said- smothered in limes. These are what we pulled from the snipped branches after we finished the pruning!

...which filled 3 large mixing bowls, and then some!

We were a bit overwhelmed! Needless to say, lime juice has taken a more prominent position in our diets than before, and we've begun to freeze bags of juice too!

Washing them all was a tedious process, but between ants, snails, dirt, and the occasional bird poo on the rinds, I thought it was necessary. Many tiers of limes in this photo: the bowl in the foreground, a sinkful under suds, top & bottom of dish rack, and a bowlful on the table in the background, and basically sprouting out my ears!

As they await consumption, they serve as decor. Patrick patiently stacked about two-thirds of that latest harvest on a large platter in our dining room.

Some of you are probably sick of hearing about our darn lime tree, as we've already been bragging about it for awhile. Sorry, but all the same, too bad! hehe :) We are enthralled, and are likely to be for quite some time still. :)

Oh, and as a head's up: next year you may have to deal with even more of our ranting-and-raving. The second tree/bush in our yard has wasted-away fruit and pits underneath it we haven't identified yet. We think it may be a plum, nectarine or peach tree, or at least we're crossing our fingers for that, until we find out next season!