Sally Morgan explains how to grow a range of lovely zesty fruits and outlines the different varieties available
Imagine plucking a lemon off a tree and popping a fresh-as-you-like slice in a gin and tonic. Growing my own lemons wasn’t something I had thought about until I stumbled upon a blog post by the head gardener at the Black Swan, Tommy Banks’ award-winning restaurant in Yorkshire, describing how they grow ‘Four Season’ lemon trees to supply the restaurant. I thought if they could grow lemons in Yorkshire, so could I in Somerset.
As the climate warms up and plant breeders produce hardier citrus varieties, we will be able to grow oranges and lemons. While we won’t be seeing citrus groves in England any time soon, growing citrus in containers is a good and reliable option.
Citrus fruits are long associated with warm Mediterranean climates of Spain, Italy and California, but originally they came from India, China and SE Asia. From there they spread to the Middle East and Mediterranean along trade routes. First to arrive was a sweet orange, followed by other types of citrus.
Caring for your citrus
Citrus plants do best in a large pot placed a sheltered sunny spot with a south or west aspect. They need a slightly acidic soil, with a pH between 6 and 6.5, so pot up the plants with a peat-free ericaceous compost rather than a multipurpose type.
Citrus plants hate wet feet, especially in winter so ensure the compost is free draining by adding some horticultural grit and sand and stand the pot on bricks or a grate to encourage drainage. The leaves are evergreen, so you can expect to see a few fallen leaves all year round, but occasionally you may get a lot of fallen leaves. This can be due to a sudden change in conditions or the pot becoming too dry. Don’t panic though as the leaves will generally grow back.
Citrus are hungry plants and need regular feeding, especially during the summer months and yellowing of the leaves can be a sign that the plant needs food. You can buy specialist citrus feeds which will give the right balance of nutrient and maintain the right pH or give a seaweed-based one. I like to give the occasional feed containing sequestrated iron to ensure the pH stays on the acidic side.
Being self fertile you can buy just one plant. Generally, the intensely fragrant flowers appear in spring and the fruits slowly develop over the rest of the year to ripen in winter, but often the cycles overlap and you get both flowers and fruits on the plant. It’s tempting to leave all the fruits on the plant, but you won’t get good sized fruits if you do.
It’s best to leave no more than 20 fruits on a larger plant and to remove the fruits once they are ripe to encourage the plant to start flowering again.
