No bravery needed with this variety

HEAVY FEEDER: Like all citrus, the lemonade lemon tree needs plenty of nutrients to stay healthy and productive. File picture

Eating a fresh lemon requires a lot of courage, unless it's a Lemonade. Lemonade fruit is much sweeter and doesn't have the intense sourness of most other lemons. Lemonade lemon trees are great for backyards as they don't get much taller than 3m and produce lots of round golden yellow fruit which can be peeled, segmented and devoured fresh or juiced and used in a delicious range of lemony dishes. Lemonade trees can also be grown successfully in a pot.

Lemonade trees do best in a well-drained sunny spot that receives at least six hours of sunshine a day and will grow in all but the coldest areas of New Zealand.

When planting a new Lemonade tree, mix some Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food into the planting hole to help improve and enrich the soil and supply the newly planted lemon with gentle, organic nutrients as it establishes.

When planting citrus into containers, choose a well-drained pot that is at least 40cm in diameter and use a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix.

Like all citrus, Lemonade lemon trees are heavy feeders and require lots of nutrients to stay healthy and productive. While trees are flowering, growing new foliage or carrying fruit, feed every 1-2 weeks with Yates Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food. It contains a combination of nutrients specially designed to feed citrus, including nitrogen to encourage healthy green leaf growth and phosphorus and potassium to promote good quality fruit.

Keep the new tree well watered, particularly throughout its first summer. Citrus trees have a shallow root system which can dry out quickly.

It is also beneficial to apply a few centimetres of mulch over the soil (or potting mix) surface, which will help the root zone stay moist. Keep the mulch a few centimetres away from the trunk to allow good air flow and reduce the chance of collar rot disease.

Pollination tip: citrus trees are self fertile so you only need one Lemonade tree to be able to produce fruit. It leaves you room to grow other citrus trees and create a wonderfully productive home citrus orchard!

Fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) is your go-to plant when you want a bold leafy statement indoors. They are one of the trendiest plants around, with impressively large glossy leaves. They can grow into quite tall plants and are ideal for filling a bare corner in a room with lush greenery and also make the perfect backdrop for smaller plants.

Fiddle leaf figs prefer a brightly lit spot indoors, out of direct sunlight and away from cold draughts. You can also grow a Fiddle leaf fig in a protected spot on a deck or patio.

Choose a pot that is at least 40 cm wide, with good drainage holes, and fill with a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix.

Keep the potting mix only slightly moist. Fiddle leaf figs do not like to be overwatered or sit in a saucerful of water, as their roots can start to rot. Check moisture levels in the potting mix by inserting your finger into the top few cm of mix. If it feels dry or dusty, it is time to re-water. If the mix still feels quite moist, leave watering for another few days.

Fiddle leaf figs are native to tropical rainforests in Africa, so they like humidity and will enjoy having their leaves misted with water when it is hot and dry.

Feed Fiddle leaf figs plants every two weeks from spring to autumn with Yates Thrive Houseplant Liquid Plant Food. It's a complete fertiliser that provides nitrogen for leaf development, phosphorus for a strong root system and potassium for healthy growth. Their large leaves can attract dust, so regularly gently wipe the leaves to keep them clean.

They can be left in the same pot for several years, but when you see roots starting to grow out of the base it's time for a slightly larger pot.

Green thumb tips: encourage straight, upright growth by turning the pot by 90-180 degrees every few weeks, so all sides of the plant are exposed to the maximum amount of light. And if your Fiddle leaf fig does start to grow too tall, you can pinch out the top of the stem.

Courtesy of Yates