Grow your own citrus - tips for lemon and lime trees: Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden

“A house is not a home without a lemon tree,” writes Kem Ormond. Photo / Unsplash

Kem Ormond is a features writer for The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s writing about citrus and the great addition it can be to your vegetable garden.

OPINION

I have always had this saying, “A house is not a home without a lemon tree”, and I firmly believe that.

No matter what house I have lived in over my life, I always made sure it had a lemon tree, otherwise, I purchased one.

I have a wonderful lemon tree in my present home that just explodes with fruit, a newly planted lime tree, a kaffir lime for my Asian dishes, a mandarin, and an early and late fruiting orange.

I have a friend with a grapefruit tree, so I do a bit of food trading for any grapefruit I may need.

Once citrus finds a spot that it likes, then it thrives.

Climate and location

Lemon, grapefruit, and limes are particularly productive in a wide range of regions, especially if grown in full sun.

Oranges and mandarins sometimes need a favourable microclimate to produce well, so a nice, sheltered corner is more to their liking.

You need to think about where you are going to plant your citrus and its eventual size.

After about 15 years, it can be five metres for a grapefruit, down to 2 to 3 metres for a mandarin on a dwarf rootstock.

They will be less vigorous if they are grown in a large pot.

Soil and planting

Mandarin trees can reach up to three metres. Photo / Phil Thomsen

Citrus trees will only survive light frosts, so are not suited to all temperate zones.

However, there are options for growing them in frost-prone areas, such as under eaves, or in pots that can be moved under cover for winter.

When I plant new citrus in a slightly frost-prone area, I will build a cover with four battens and frost cloth just until it gets to a good height.

If you are planting a general lime tree, just remember it has thorns so plant it somewhere that you are not going to bump into it or scratch yourself squeezing past it.

Citrus have a shallow fibrous root system and prefer a light soil or silt loam.

They do not like grass or vigorous plants growing closely around them and do not like root disturbance, such as hoeing or forking the garden.

They like to be left alone, apart from being fertilised.

I use a citrus fertiliser, but they are quite happy with general fertiliser as well.

Sprinkle the fertiliser around the drip line, the outer circumference of the foliage, not around the trunk of the bush.

Why is my citrus tree yellow?

This has to be one of the most commonly asked questions, as we all find that our citrus leaves turn yellow at some time.

The reason is that citrus are prone to magnesium deficiency, which shows up as a yellowing between the veins of older leaves.

The answer is to check out your pantry for some Epsom salts or find a magnesium-rich fertiliser that can prevent this.

Watering, drainage, and pruning

Kem Ormond's homemade lime curd. Photo / Kem Ormond

Citrus prefer fertile soil, with good drainage, especially in winter.

If you have nice rich topsoil, put some in your newly dug hole before planting.

The resulting raised bed will be moisture-retentive, yet well-aerated all year round.

It is important not to let your citrus dry out over summer, so adding some mulch around your citrus tree is important, but remember to keep it away from the trunk.

I like to keep my citrus well pruned, especially the lime as this seems to be very vigorous.

I like to keep them at easy-picking height, and my preference is to have them slightly rounded.

Citrus is such excellent value and if you have only room for one citrus tree I would make it a lemon.

Then you can use lemon on your fish, in your gin, lemon slice, lemon cake and lemon cordial... perfect.