If You Have Outdoor Space, You Need a Citrus Tree
Picture of my lemon tree at home, just as the lemons bloom.
You need a citrus tree! Really, everyone with outdoor space needs a lemon or lime tree, and maybe even more. My Husband Matt and I purchased our home in Berkeley, CA almost three years ago, and pretty much immediately, I got us a couple dwarf citrus trees. We have a lemon and a mandarin, both dwarf, which means they can stay and thrive in a large pot.
We may only get a harvest of each once a year. lemons during the late Summer, and mandarins during late Winter. The timing is perfectly spread out. During the Summer I water them daily with our garden, but during the Winter, we only water them when it hasn’t rained in 5 days or so. We can go on vacation for 2 weeks without needing to water them and they won’t die if they don’t get water. I wouldn’t recommend this lengthy of a departure in the first 4-5 months while they settle into the pot and take root.
The dwarf citrus trees add such a beautiful element to our patio, and we really get excited to eat the harvest. I usually have enough to make some kind of lemon dessert and a couple leftover for cooking.
If you’re a busy professional and want something for your patio or yard that’ll impress friends or family when they visit, but takes little work, and ultimately costs under $100 each, you can’t go wrong with a dwarf citrus tree (dwarf lemon, dwarf mandarin, dwarf lime).
Pro tip: Once yours grows big enough, you can cut a branch off, take off all the stems and leafs, and plant that stick facing up under soil…. and you can make another tree for free! Just make sure you have a couple places where leafs or branches used to exist under the soil, and water it daily until it roots and starts to make branches again. It’s for real, that easy.
When life gives you a lemon tree, make another!
Write in and let me know if I’m right after you dive down this rabbit hole. Was I right? Did you need a citrus tree? Are you enjoying being a lemon-mama or a lime-daddy?
