What What Limequat?

Last week gardener engineer Jansen saw a nice and big lemon tree at the garden center for 25€, and could not control himself.  Today he planted it.  The usual procedure, hammer drill, sifting soil, removing stones, etc.

Removed the label, as he keeps those.

Citrus x Floridiana. Oh, a hybrid. And eh.. what? It's not a lemon! It's a "Limequat"!

What the hell is a limequat?

Wikipedia Limequat says:  "The limequat (Citrus × floridana) is a citrus hybrid that is the result of a cross between the Key lime and the kumquat, hybridized by Walter Tennyson Swingle in 1909"

Engineer Jansen knows the Key lime from the very nice pie, so if this is like that all is good.  Although someone named “Swingle” does not immediately sound really trustworthy (sorry).

Oh, and "Limequats are used in cocktails and fruit salads, and can be candied whole. They can be cooked if the seeds are removed, as they impart a bitter taste, and they can also be made into conserves.". Good too, but skip the fruit salads, too healthy!

"It is a small tree that grows into a contained bushy form. The leaves are characteristically citrus-like. The limequat produces an abundance of fruit even at a young age. The fruit is small, oval, greenish-yellow and contains seeds or pips. It has a sweet-tasting skin and a bitter-sweet pulp with a flavor similar to limes. The fruit can be eaten whole or the juice and rind can be used to flavor drinks and dishes. It has considerable amounts of vitamin C and is highly acidic."

So far this is not a small citrus, it is nice and tall. 

Engineer Jansen’s Ingenious Soil Sifting System™

To plant one lime tree in this rocky stony soil Engineer Jansen uses 100 grams dynamite, a hammar drill, shovels and Engineer Jansen’s Ingenious Soil Sifting System™. Yes, that is a pile of rocks at the arrow.

Endless Margaritas in 2, 3 years time.

Do notice Pili at the top of the picture.

Lime, pile of stones, Pili and mango

One of Engineer Jansen’s piles.

 eh..

Engineer Jansen’s Ingenious Soil Sifting System™

Bouddha's Hand

Dutch "sukade" is made of the peel of a very big lime fruit, the Citrus Medica, wikipedia says: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukadeboom In English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succade

"Sukade" is made by candying the peel of the fruit: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukade as used in the Dutch new year treat “oil balls” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol

Not found that tree here, but readily available is Buddha's Hand, that is also labelled Citrus Medica:

We'll see!

Outdoor lights

The house has nice built-in outdoor lights. Sort of a roof tile incorporate in the wall and plaster, with a lightbulb inside. All fittings, however, made of plastic, have not survived well. 10 of these, eh. Engineer Jansen was not impressed.

Cycad - Cycas - Sagopalm

The terrace has an amazing 20 year old cycad / cycas  sagopalm. More than one meter high. But, it has to go, it's extremely poisonous for dogs.  Every part of the plant. The leaves, and the nice red nuts it produces. 

We replanted it outside the fence. An operation that has cost days and days. First, while constructing the fence we tried to dig it up, but the soil is hard, and it has a big system of fibrous roots. So, with the hammer drill engineer Jansen has spent days digging a trench around it, softening the soil with water, but it would not really budge. 

In the end we bent it every way, managed to tear is off it's roots. I hope enough roots are left to make those regrow. Currently it does not look terribly happy, the lower leaves are sagging.  But, the hot weather is over, so it has some opportunity to recover, we hope.

The top was a yellow-beige ball of fluff, that is now showing the red nuts! (Hope that is not a bad sign)

Deltawerkjes

Ingenieur Jansen managed to construct an impressive dam to counter rain water flowing down the road. Sawed a plastic pipe in half as a mould. 4 bags of 25 kg hormisac concrete, et voilà!

Small addition. Tested with bucket of water, some water sat in the corner, see below. Can’t have THAT!

Palm removal

Today we say goodbye to the palm tree. It got far too big, and it made a mess with all those seeds, that were also eaten by the dogs, and attracted flies, and sprouted everywhere. Sorry!

One guy climbs up, in a special protective suit, he then first cuts off the leaves, dropping them down on a big wooden board. That is necessary, because these leaves weigh a lot. He then slices slices off the palm with a chainsaw, dropping the blocks down on the big sack filled with the leaves as a cushion.

Very very impressive work by Nash Groundworks (Mojacar).

Video: