Our "backyard" is really fairly small. We do most of our gardening in the "side yard", so that's where most of the pictures on this blog were taken. The trees flanking the pathway are a pink grapefruit and an orange, and together with a lemon tree that isn't shown, are the oldest trees in our yard. They were planted as 15 gallon trees in the summer of 2002. Citrus trees have done much better for us than any kind of deciduous trees. They are on drip irrigation and we fertilize them three times a year. Here's the chart we use to calculate how much to feed them and when. You will note that they look more like bushes than trees because we allowed them to grow into their natural shapes. That's best for the trees, because the shade protects the bark from sunburn. Some say the fruit growing on the lowest branches is the sweetest.
And here's a picture of what the trees looked like when they were first planted! That's my mother in the picture. A breast cancer survivor since 1991, she is convinced that pink grapefruit played a part in her successful treatment. So when we moved here, one of the first things we planted was a pink grapefruit tree.
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