When are lemons and oranges harvested in California?
While there is not a whole lot of blooming going on in other parts of your garden, January and February are the months to tend to your citrus trees. A tiny bit of pruning, a whole lot of feeding, and the requisite check for fast drainage are key to healthy and abundant trees and crops. Like children, citrus is an investment in the future. You tend to your young trees, and harvest the early but not necessarily favorable crops, and in five to 10 years have a tree loaded with fruit that tastes the way nature intended it to. It’s called “raising” fruit as opposed to “growing” fruit. It takes time. Let citrus trees develop in a natural form. First, they grow up for a year or so, then bend over in broad, weeping forms. Your job as the keeper of your tree is to make sure the weeping branches stay at least a foot off the ground. Branches that touch bottom are bridges for snails, fungus and other problems. Because a weeping form shades the inside of the tree, get inside there and prune away bra
