Friday, July 13, 2007

Tropical gardening - Lemon

I know you might say that lemon should be planted at cooler temperature. But what I am proving to you is that lemon can be planted in tropical climate too. Lemon or scientifically known as citrus limon is a good source of herb. Its juice is rich of vitamin C, which can be consume or applied externally for insect bites and skin irritations. Its peel can be extracted for oil or dried for pot-pourri.
Where to get
Just buy a lemon from the market and sow the seeds.
How to start
Sow seeds in a small pot and cover the seeds lightly with mixed soil. Place the pot in a shaded area and ensure that the soil is always damp. When the seedlings come through, place it under direct sunlight. Or you can do like what I did. Just throw the seeds into a pot and place it under the sun. Water it daily and it will accidentally pop out to surprise you. That's what happen to me actually.
How to maintain
The plant needs well-drained but not too acidic compost/soil. You can keep them under filtered sun or greenhouse. For me, I kept them at my shaded balcony. Well I don't really have a choice there. And most interesting of all, you can actually keep them in a pot, as long as there are room for growth.
Note
1. Apply pesticide to avoid attacks on the plant ( I have to cut the plant to cure them of the pest).
2. If you intend to plant lemon in container, stop changing to bigger pots when the plant is at the desired size/height. Trim the plant to promote regeneration.

2 comments:

Thy Thy said...

hi, i do have 3 lemon at home now, i am living in Italy, and the weather in summer right now about 29-36, it was great at first, but now it seems to stop growing (the height now is about 10 cm, 8 leaves. you know why?

Ping said...

Hello again! I tried to contact you via your site, but silly-ole-me is too confused and lost there. Lemon is from tree family so they need room for the roots to grow. If you want them to grow bigger, you should consider changing the pots. The height and width of pot will determine the size of lemon. Hope this helps.

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