Lemon tree

[ditavonteesed]

There is a reason I should not go shopping at 6am. Today's is because I bought a lemon tree. Not a cute dinky dwarf lemon tree but an actual lemon tree.
It says it grows to 4m by 2m.

I have a very small garden. I figured I can keep it in a pot and it can't grow too big. Is that very naive of me? If not I'll have to get rid in a few years as I definitely do not have room for a full tree.
I went all self sufficient and figured I could grow lemons for my g&t.
Please tell me it'll be ok. 😳🙄

Mine died the one winter I left it out in a sheltered spot.
I had overwintered it in the conservatory for 3 years but then moved house. I thought it would be nicely sheltered where I put it but it didn’t survive.

Growing lemon trees in the UK (assuming you are in the UK?) is a bit stressful because they're not really made for our climate. I read all the instructions and tried to follow them to the letter but mine still died.

Good luck though, the lemons from a homegrown tree have an absolutely amazing flavour.

I've been minding a friend's potted lemon tree for a couple of months .
It was about two feet tall in February with many lemons and it has since put on about eighteen inches growth in all directions and popped out six more flowers . It's on a sunny east- facing windowsill and drinks like a fish , half a litre of water each day and a feed once a fortnight .
Apparently , they are happy to be pruned quite regularly to encourage fruiting so you can keep it to a size you can accommodate .
I will be sad to give it back , it's so pretty .

Like PP mine snuffed it over winter, and I had even brought it inside and set it up in the spare room. One tip I was given (although evidently this wasn't enough by itself!)was that they only drink rain water. Good luck!

I am growing some too from seeds I planted last year. I am very excited to get a tree, in about 8 years time.

I left 2 of the seedlings outside in April and I think they are frost damaged

I kept one seedling inside and it is now 8 inches tall. I wish it would grow quicker though!

Let me guess, Aldi?! DH came home with one a few weeks ago and it's doubled in size already, I was putting it outside in the day and in at night but now the nights are warmer he's staying out (I may have named him Mr Lemony). He needs repotting now so I don't know how I'll carry him in when autumn comes, I really need a greenhouse.

They can do very well in the UK, mines currently got about 8 lemons on it and loads of blossom.

As others have said winter frosts are a difficulty, they can cope with short non severe frosts, but hards frosts tends to kill them. One thing I’ve found is if you wrap them up in bubble wrap, pot and plant, they tend to do ok

I've got a lemon tree, I live in the south of England but still keep in in the conservatory most of the time and only put it outside in the summer.

I didn't realise quite how fussy and high maintenance it would be! After a couple of years of treating it how I would any other plant, I realised the poor thing was looking very yellow and sick and dropping all its fruit and that I should probably take better care of it.

So I discovered I was over watering it. Now I give it half as much water, and don't let it stand in a tray of it.
They love nutrients. I give it some citrus feed whenever I water it.
They like acidic soil. I scraped away the top few inches of compost and filled it with some citrus potting mix, and I don't water it with tap water (I'm in a hard water area), I use rainwater from my water butt instead.

After doing this for a few months it's now looking a lot better with lovely dark green leaves replacing the sickly yellow looking ones it was sporting. It only has one lemon on it, but I'm hoping next year it will have sufficiently recovered to support a bit more fruit.

How lovely, what a great purchase! And something to look forward to!

Monty was talking about lemon trees on the telly the other day. It would be worth trying to find it on playback but can't remember if it was on Gardeners' World or some of the old Chelsea coverage ...

Anyway, I'm fairly certain he said the mistake people make is keeping them indoors during winter which is is too dry for them. Apparently they should be over-wintered in a cool out building or some such. Can't remember the rest! I

Mine's in a large pot and stays out all summer and in an unheated conservatory all winter. It's doing really well but does need feeding and watering regularly.

Anyway, I'm fairly certain he said the mistake people make is keeping them indoors during winter

Yes that rings a bell, apparently over winter they like it to be about 7c and a bit dryer than normal. Mine is in my unheated conservatory over winter, which doesn't go below freezing but is pretty chilly!

The leaves have a lemony flavour - you can use them in cooking

The leaves ooooo that's exciting it's very sweet and even has a few tiny lemons on it. I hope I can keep it alive. I need to get a massive pot from somewhere for it.