Photo from UCCE Master Gardeners
This is the time of year to keep close watch on your gardening family and friends. If you notice your gardener looking pale, staring out the window, and sniffing silk flowers, you have a gardener emergency.
An emergency kit consists of flower-scented car potpourri to wave vigorously below the patient’s nose and floral hand lotion rubbed into the gardener’s hands. Pale skin tones require chair time out of doors when weather permits. These are short-term fixes only.
A longer-term fix is a delightful, fragrant outdoor plant that, with proper care, will thrive indoors. This plant needs just what your gardener needs; sunlight, food, and a grounded place. One of the most popular winter indoor plants is an outdoor plant that wants to come in, a Meyer lemon tree.
Meyer lemons, from China, are a hybrid cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. Their fruit is sweeter and less acidic than other lemons. They are relatively easy to grow indoors with fragrant flowers, fruit, and green glossy foliage.
To make your lemon tree happy indoors in an artificial environment, there are a few care requirements. Outdoors, a lemon tree requires full sunlight. Indoors, search out a south facing window providing six to eight hours of direct sunlight daily. If that amount of light is not available, a grow light could provide assistance. For good flower and fruit production, the plant needs as much light as possible. Gardening articles that suggest clean windows help the tree thrive also suggest an excellent use for a gardener’s excess pent-up energy.
An artificial environment means watering is an ongoing event. As with other indoor potted plants, water should not sit in saucers. Water your tree when the soil is dry to a depth of two inches. Use a moisture meter or a wooden chop stick inserted two inches into the soil. Wait one minute, remove the chopstick and check the bottom. If it’s wet, wait to water. If the chopstick is dry, completely water, soaking the soil.
To be productive, your lemon has to eat. Use a citrus-formulated fertilizer and follow the instructions. Organic fertilizer will provide nutrition without large flushes of growth from too much nitrogen. In pots, nutrients will be used up quickly. As the tree matures, it will need to be repotted. New acidic potting soil and a pot that is two inches wider than the previous pot will provide nutrients and better water retention.
Sunlight, water, and food will help your Meyer lemon and your gardener through the drudgery of winter. By inviting Mother Nature and her children into your home you will create a peaceful home and a peaceful, happy gardener.
Julie Silva is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener of Tuolumne County.