Keeping it...alive.

So, I don't have the best track record when it comes to keeping plants alive. Partly, it's that I always go somewhere for a week in the summer, and whatever herbs or flowers I've been working on inevitably die from lack of watering. And, partly, it's that I'm better at cooking the dead stuff.

So when my friend Nick gave me a Meyer lemon tree for Christmas this year, I was both touched (I mean, how cool, right?) and terrified. Would I kill this gorgeous, generous gift? Or would I rise to the challnge and kick some Meyer lemon butt?

Well, so far, so good. Aside from a UPS snafu with the delivery (they never left slips saying they'd been by, and by the time I got their postcard, the poor plant had been sitting in the UPS warehouse on 11th Avenue for a week), all has gone extremely well. Turns out Meyer lemon trees are ridiculously low-maintenance. They like humidity (humidifier - check), water (watering can - check) and lots of sunlight (south/east facing window - check).

And now, after a couple of months of TLC, the tree is about two feet tall and growing its first fruit! Can't wait to make the world's most delicious gin and tonic with it - or maybe the world's tiniest Meyer lemon pie...