Vegetables and fruits

The late season harvest

Published February 15, 2013 | By Jane

As the weather starts to cool at the end of the summer, it’s time to think about how to harvest and preserve the good stuff still remaining in your garden. Fruits, vegetables and even your favorite flowers can offer edibles that will keep into the cooler months and seeds that will allow you to grow your favorite plants again next year. Sometimes over-zealous birds or wasps may encourage you to crop your edibles all at once or a little before their time. And maybe you grew a particularly fine-looking plant from which you’d love to harvest seeds for next year. All these are great reasons to find ways to preserve the late season harvest.

Drying, freezing, canning and storing are the most popular ways to preserve your late season harvest. Some materials respond better to one way or another and some are more labor intensive.

Drying: if you have a cool, dark, airy place with very low humidity, you can often tie leafy plants like herbs in bunches and hang them upside down to dry. There are many different styled dehydrators that will aid with drying, especially if you don’t have a perfect area available. In the case of juicy fruits and vegetables, a little extra help with drying makes a lot of sense. Certain plants are particularly amenable to drying, like tomatoes (the new Tomaccio variety is supposed to dry well right on the vine) or varieties of grapes that are grown to dry as raisins or plums grown for prunes. Most grapes will still dry to quite decently-flavored raisins, though some can be tastier and larger than others.

Drying is the only viable way to preserve you seeds for planting next year. Most seeds need little special treatment once dried on the plant or off. But they will last longer if kept in glass jars. I like to use little baby food jars for medium and small seeds. You can label and stack a lot of jars in a small space.

Freezing: if you have room in your freezer, freezing can be a very easy way to extend the life of your late season harvest. In most cases it’s advisable first to parboil fruits and vegetables to destroy bacteria and other elements that will encourage breakdown of stored food. Make sure you seal your frozen food well and label it clearly.

Canning in glass jars: this can become a little more involved, but well-canned food can often last for years. If you use glass jars, make sure to boil them in a double boiler until they are sterile. Sealing with melted canning wax is still a good idea, though not all recipes require it. The fun part of canning is that you can pack your food in water, oil, preserve it cooked or raw or even cook up some tasty recipes before preserving it.

Storing: this is the age old way of keeping root crops fresh through the winter. Some old homes still have root cellars where root crops could be kept cool, dry and dark without fear of frost. It still works well, particularly for crops like yams, potatoes, beets, carrots and other root crops. The concept is simply to copy leaving these plants in the ground in a frost-free soil while they are in their dormant, winter rest. Layering your vegetables with soil or sand in boxes should keep them fresh until they come back to life at the end of the winter. You will want to use them up before they start to germinate again or the roots will become soft and shriveled. There are ways to store and preserve sweet foods in sugar and other edible preservatives, too.

These are the most common ways to make your late-season harvest last. And there are hundreds of variations on how to dry, freeze, can or otherwise store your crops. Some can be fun projects to entertain the whole family. There’s no reason to let any of your late season harvest go to waste. And if you don’t want to be bothered with preserving your surplus fruits and vegetables, look to local sources that will be more than happy to take your extras to help feed the hungry.

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged garden harvest, late season garden, preserving fruits, preserving vegetables, saving seeds, vegetable garden | Leave a comment

Plant views: A closer look at grapes

Published February 7, 2013 | By Jane

Grapes send up buds soon after breaking dormancy. After growing only a few inches, new shoots carry the beginnings of clusters of buds that will later bloom and set fruit.

The flower buds are tiny and because of their narrow petals, almost look fuzzy when they open into flowers. Late frosts can injure the buds and flowers at this early stage and can burn or even destroy the grape crop. Moist air and too much rain can encourage fungal problems as buds and flowers swell with fruit. If your fruit is prone to developing a dull white sheen (most common in European grape varieties), this is mildew — a problem best treated early by dusting the young fruits with sulfur dust soon after plants have finished flowering.

Small fruits form like clusters of tiny pearls and grow rapidly. Tiny grapes swell and will mature depending on weather and variety. Harvest grapes when they are sweet. Most grape varieties will hold their fruit well on the vines for weeks. But beware vanishing fruit since wildlife – especially squirrels and birds – will love dining on your grapes.

If left to dry on the vines, grapes will dry into raisins, but varieties that are not bred specifically for raisins are likely to produce very small or unimpressively flavored dried fruit. They are all still edible.

Both grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs.

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged grape development, grape photos, grape vines, grapes, grapevines | Leave a comment

How to grow edible onions (Allium)

Published February 7, 2013 | By Jane

Bulb onions (Allium cepa) are easy to grow and are a great crop to plant in the vegetable garden. These are the common round onions we know from the grocery store as opposed to non-bulb onions like scallions or leeks. Scallions, ‘bunching onions’, or ‘green onions’ are those long thin onions that do not form big bulbs at the root. And leeks grow tall with big flat green leaves and an elongated white stem that is the prime part for use in cooking. There are a number of other onion plants you can also grow that form small bulbs or even stay tiny and form clusters like chives. Onions are tasty and healthy foods that do not take up a lot of space in the vegetable garden. All kinds grow well in the Southern California area if they are given reasonably rich soil and plenty of water. Here are some tips on how to plant onions in the vegetable garden.

Onions are usually planted in the spring or autumn. They are commonly started by one of three methods: seed, seedlings or sets (for bulb onions). You can actually plant them during the winter in any of these forms, too, if you live in a mild winter climate.

Seeds of bulb-forming onions do best in an area with a long summer like ours because they have time to form good-sized globes. This is the most inexpensive way to plant them. Seed them in rows and thin them to about one plant for each 4″. Unlike some other parts of the country, we don’t have a problem with the onion fly here. You can choose from many different varieties of reds, yellows and whites. The standard yellow varieties will produce onions with the longest storage capabilities.

Seeds are also easy to grow for other types of onions. Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum) are best started in a small area where the seedlings can all reach 4 – 8” tall before being transplanted. The best way to transplant leeks is to trim the roots of the seedlings and drop each plant in a 6 – 8” hole made by a dibbler or other stick-like tool. Do not fill in the hole with soil, but do water the young plants in. The hole will help blanch the stems as the leek seedlings grow bigger and fill in the space.

If you buy young plants of any kind of onion to transplant from pots or 6-packs or you start your seeds indoors, planting instructions are pretty much guided by the same rules as seeding directly in the ground. Plant them about 4 – 6″ apart in rows. Leeks can also be grown at the same spacing, but they will be easier to dig when ready if you leave a little more space between plants or larger spaces between rows so you have more room to insert the shovel. For all onions transplants other than the leek, plant just the rooted base, leaving the long thin grass-like tops free of soil. In Southern California, autumn is the best time to plant seeds since you want them to be strong enough to over-winter and have a long season to grow. Spring is the best time for transplants. But you can also plant either at any time of the year, though the cooler seasons are better than in the heat, especially in the hot, inland areas.

Planting from sets is probably the most universally easy and safe way to grow dry bulb onions. You can buy the little bulbs (that were grown from seed already) from garden centers in autumn, winter and spring. These, too, should be spaced in rows at 4″ – 6″ intervals. Just press the very bottom of the bulb into the soil: don’t bury it. You may have to replant some little onions occasionally as they can get dislodged by birds.

Plant your bulb onions, leeks and scallions in rich soil and full sun and make sure they get regular water. Onions are easily grown and a great staple of the home vegetable garden. I like to inter-plant my bulb-forming onions with lettuce since the lettuce will be cropped by the time the weather starts to warm and the bulbs begin to swell. This way I get more growing out of a limited space. Scallions make nice border plants in the vegetable garden. If you don’t harvest all your scallions or green onions, the remaining plants will form clumps and can be grown on from one year to the next.

Although I haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere, leeks that go to seed (flower) or bolt before you can crop them are also best left in the ground. The flower shoot that grows up inside the long stem will ruin the leek texture so I’d advise not cropping the plant at all. If you let the blooming leek remain and die back in the summer, you will get one or more plants sprouting for next year. The second year’s leeks will likely be a bit thinner, but will still be great for cropping and eating – so long as you harvest them before they start flower spike formation.

You may also want to plant chives. The regular chive has a pretty pink flower and makes a decorative, low profile plant. The garlic chive has a flat leaf and taller panicles of white flowers that are very decorative in the garden. Both types of onion chive offer leaves to be snipped for salads or cooking during most of the year except the in middle of the winter when clumps of the miniature bulbs die back into dormancy.

These are the most common kinds of onion to grow in the garden. They are heavy feeders and like lots of organics dug into the soil and regular feeding. Give them full sun and they will grow easily with little likelihood of pest damage. You can also try some other members of the onion family like Egyptian or Walking Onions, pearl onions, Italian round onions, shallots and garlic. All are easy, tasty, nourishing and fun to grow!

Posted in Vegetables and fruits | Tagged Allium, edible onion, gardening, growing onions, Onions, Southern California | Leave a comment

Enjoying the grape harvest

Published February 4, 2013 | By Jane

Of all the fruits I grow in my garden I think the grape vines are the most reliable and versatile. Being vines they are perfect to block views I don’t want, decorate arbors and cover plain fences. In the summer they become laden with heavy clusters of tasty round fruits that are juicy and refreshing in the heat of summer. This is one plant that seems to produce enough food for my needs, the wildlife and even all the neighbors.

In fact, most years I end up piling them up on neighbor’s doorsteps, ringing the bell and running away since I have so many. Another good home for excess crops is the food bank. A drop off at the senior center always brings smiles, too.

Although I am fortunate to live in Southern California where I have a wide range of excellent grape varieties to grow for eating or for making wine, there are varieties that are adapted to climates of all different types. So you can probably enjoy growing these useful and beautiful vines in your garden, too, no matter where you live.

There are elaborate pruning techniques that are important for commercially grown plants or vines that need to be properly trained. Good pruning in the winter will assure healthier, better producing and attractive vines. But grapes are quite forgiving and you can have lovely, productive plants without fussing too much. I find you can get away with simply pruning back severely at the end of the autumn even if you don’t carefully count the nodes. Even unpruned vines often produce well enough, although the size of the grape and some of the quality may be lost over time. Growing grapes for the home garden need not be an exact science to enjoy a fine harvest.

I don’t know about you, but I love growing – and eating – grapes. Mine are clean and organic, and they are tastier, healthier and much cheaper than the ones I can buy at the supermarket. So off I go again today to fill my bags with more goodies from the garden to eat and to share. Grapes are fun.

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged crop grapes, grape vines, grow grapes, harvest | Leave a comment

Color Your Garden with Decorative Vegetables

Published January 2, 2013 | By Jane

Everyone’s growing their own vegetables these days. It’s the most popular trend in Eco-friendly gardening and one that pays back with delicious food that can even be decorative in the garden. In warm-winter climates you can grow healthy, tasty edibles all year round. There are so many colorful hybrids in fruits and vegetables these days you don’t have to settle for the ordinary. If you want something different check out all the fruits and vegetables that offer not only good eating, but an ornamental rainbow of hues. Some can be bought as started plants. All can be planted from seed.

Color schemes from the hues of fruits and vegetables can add an extra element of design to the garden. They can be used to edge an ordinary vegetable plot with something ornate or to add consumables into a flower bed. And, of course, there are endless possibilities in the kitchen for interesting and colorful fresh foods.

Carrots can be grown in reds, purples, whites and yellows as well as oranges.
Beets offer reds, deep purples, pinks, whites and golden yellows as well as varieties ringed with white. Even the leaves are edible.
Radishes can be found long and short, round and tapered; red, white, black, white and pink. These fast-growing vegetables can be grown year round in our gardens.
For truly glamorous leaves look for the colors of chard in varieties of ‘Bright Lights’. Expect to find stems and veins in hot pink, brilliant scarlet, fluorescent yellow, rich orange and soft white. Chard grows well right through the winter so you can start planting them at any time from now on.
Cabbages offer varieties with smooth or curly leaves, blue tints, reds, purples and an assortment of greens. Plant these starting next month for a cool season crop. They’ll start heading up in springtime and crop into next summer.
Cauliflower is no longer limited to white. Try orange, green or purple varieties that will also enjoy the cooler months of our winters.

Look for showy flowers on edibles, too. With our mild climate, we can keep the kitchen supplied with fresh-grown food every month of the year. Some of the flowers are edible or make colorful garnishes for culinary delights as well as adding interest to the garden itself.

Look for climbing beans that flower in red, pink, purple or white. Tall-growing beans can decorate an attractive trellis. These are a warm season crop and don’t much appreciate frost.
Peas are cool-season climbers that can grow from eighteen inches tall to five or six feet high. They are perfect to decorate fences or cover unattractive surfaces with delicate green leaves and blooms that look like sweet peas.
Fava bean plants sport white flowers with a big black blotch on each bloom. They flower in masses that are both decorative and unusual. Big beans are tasty in many Mediterranean dishes. Peas and beans are in the legume family and affix nitrogen into our hungry soils. You can plant seeds in the autumn through winter.
Asparagus peas are low-growing spreading plants with bright little red flowers and long, winged seed pods that are nourishing and tasty. If you want to try something truly unusual in your garden, grow these plants. They make pretty ground covers in the garden and offer flavorful vegetables that will become a conversation piece at the dinner table. I’ve found they grow better in cool temperatures.
Onions and chives are easy to grow. They are bulbous plants. Chives have very small bulbs that clump together whereas bulb onions grow into the large globes we use all the time for cooking. Plants in the onion family tend to bloom with clustered or spherical groups of flowers in pinks, greens, whites and lavenders. They can be very ornamental when blooming. If kept watered, onions and chives will flourish even in inland gardens despite hot, dry summers. Most varieties grow slowly or rest over the winter but will sprout into life as the winter winds down.
Okra is in the hibiscus family and offers pretty yellow mallow flowers. There is even a variety with dark red leaves, stems and edible pods. This is a summer vegetable.
For big tropical-looking leaves, try rhubarb in the shade or artichokes – with their blue, brush-like flowers – in full sun. These are both perennial vegetables.

These are just some suggestions for plants that can help your garden grow color for your kitchen and landscape. Vegetables no longer need to be hidden in a back garden. Color your garden with decorative edibles. It’s fun, tasty, nourishing and even pretty!

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Articles on Landscape Design, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged colored vegetables, colorful fruits and vegetables, edible garden, edible garden design | Leave a comment

Plant views: The Asparagus Pea (Tetragonolobus)

Published November 16, 2012 | By Jane

The asparagus pea is a decorative and unusual vegetable you don’t often see. For some reason very few people seem to be growing it in their edible gardens. Why is a mystery to me. The asparagus pea is also called the winged pea because the seed pods sport wing-like ridges that run the length of the roughly two to three-inch long edible pods on four sides. The Latin name, Tetragonolobus purpurea, refers to these four-lobed seed pods and the deep scarlet, pea-type flowers produced by the plant.

Asparagus peas rarely reach more than 10 inches tall and can spread two feet wide. Thought to originally have been native to northern Africa and naturalized all over the Mediterranean region, they like plenty of sun and thrive remarkably well under hot, dry sun or warm humid conditions. They also accept soils less rich than most vegetables.

One of the most decorative vegetables with its brilliant colored little flowers, the asparagus pea shows off well in flower gardens as well as decorating vegetable gardens. Crop the pods as they develop. Serve them steamed, boiled, fried, stir-fried and used in just about any recipe that calls for beans or peas. They have a faint asparagus flavor. Mature peas have been used as a coffee substitute and the cheerful, red flowers are edible, too.

Since asparagus peas aren’t all that well known, you are not likely to find them as started plants. But you can buy seeds. They germinate easily. They do best with a long growth season. In low or no frost areas they can be planted in the autumn and will grow very slowly over the winter. They can also be planted in the early spring. Being in the legume (pea) family, their roots will help enrich your soil with nitrogen. Crop them while they are small – less than two inches – while they are tender. Pods that grow too large and tough can still offer seeds to be used like any other dried pea or bean.

Decorative, tasty and nutritious, the asparagus pea is a fun addition to the edible garden and deserves to be grown more often. You will also find these unusual vegetables referred to as ‘winged peas’ or listed as Lotus tetragonolobus.

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged asparagus pea, colorful vegetables, Lotus tetragonolobus, Tetragonolobus purpurea, winged pea | 1 Comment

New Product Introduction: Burpee Vegetable Plants

Published October 4, 2012 | By Jane

At the Spring Trials 2010, Burpee announced a whole new line of products that will make growing vegetables a lot easier.

Known for their wide variety of high quality flower and vegetable seeds, Burpee has just introduced their new line of potted vegetables. Offering some of the more interesting varieties of fruits and vegetables, like heirloom tomatoes that grow in limited spaces, decorative pink-flowered strawberry plants and unusual varieties of parsley, Burpee is offering gardeners a chance to skip the seed growing process and get a jump on the growing season by planting healthy, potted plants already started and ready to grow on in the garden.

There are some other companies that do provide vegetables and fruits to buy already started in pots. But this is new for Burpee. And with the wide range of quality seeds for which Burpee is known, chances are the potted plants they are now offering for the vegetable garden will open up the choice of new and tempting edibles — already started — for the home gardener. This new product introduction, Burpee vegetable plants, will add a new dimension to the ease of designing and growing vegetables into the garden.

The newly introduced line is called Burpee’s “Home Gardens To Go”. It is likely to not only expand vegetable gardening choices for the home gardener, but make growing vegetables more available for professional landscaping. It will allow garden designers and landscapers access to buying these new edible plants for full landscape installations. Until now, finding material for planting vegetable gardens has been complicated for many professionals in the landscape industry, so too often edible gardens have been left out of the design. The new product introduction of Burpee’s vegetable plants should make edibles in the garden more popular than ever before.

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Garden videos, news and reviews, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged 'To Go', Burpee plants, Buy vegetable plants, growing vegetables, new product introduction, vegetable plants | 2 Comments

Grow Tomatoes Decoratively

Published September 27, 2012 | By Jane

Just because tomatoes may be one of the top favorites for home vegetable growers, just because home grown tomatoes taste better than store bought, just because tomatoes are much healthier without commercial chemicals and are much fresher when cropped from the garden — these are not the only reasons to grow tomatoes. You can grow tomatoes decoratively to add color and texture to your garden — vegetable garden or flower garden. You can cover an unsightly shed or block an undesirable view with tall vines. You can decorate a balcony or patio with ornamental containers filled with these colorful fruits. (Yes, tomatoes are indeed “fruits”.) Clothe naked stairways with hanging pots or fringe the edge of an overhang with cascading tomatoes. You can even grow tomatoes upside-down as a space saver or conversation piece. Because tomato plants can grow in so many habits – climbing, trailing or bushy — the ways to grow them decoratively are limited only by your imagination.

There are many ways to design with tomatoes in containers or directly in the soil. In addition to where you grow your tomatoes, you can make them more decorative by how you grow them. Put them in ornate cages of twisted, painted metal wires or accent a tropical or Asian garden theme by building cages with bamboo sticks into geometric shapes. Set tomato plants into colorful ceramic pots or march them along a long wall planter held in place by rocks or patterned bricks. Edge a balcony with gaily colored troughs filled with tomato plants or spill them out of window boxes.

Tomatoes themselves can be decorative. There are so many sizes, shapes, colors and forms that you can paint your own pictures with the fruits you are growing. Consider ‘Banana’, ‘Golden Egg’ or ‘Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry’ for brilliant yellow tomatoes in different shapes. Look for ‘Hawaiian Pineapple’, ‘Dixie Golden Giant’, and ‘Tangerine’ for oranges and ‘Dutchman’, ‘Mortgage Lifter’, and ‘Soldacki’ for examples of pink tomatoes. Or try ‘Black Cherry”, Black Krim’, or ‘Black Brandywine’ for deep purples. Then, of course, there are lists upon lists of red tomatoes to choose from. Some of the heirloom tomatoes come with stripes, speckles, swirls or blends of multiple colors. Drape cascading tomatoes, stake tall eight-footers and create hedges with medium-sized plants.

Tomatoes can mingle in the flower garden, too. Tall ones can form a backdrop for blooms and ornamental foliage in your favorite garden bed. Mixing vegetables in with flowers and shrubs can be made artistic and will supply edibles for people who don’t have room or simply don’t want to have a separate vegetable garden. Herbs and tomatoes make fine companions so you can also add herbs tot he flower garden or pop in some tomato plants into the herb garden.

The herb garden can be a comfy home for tomato plants, too. Basil is a favorite companion of the tomato both in the kitchen and in the ground. The height and breadth of tomato plants can complement the smaller growing chives, thymes, oreganos and majorams whereas the colorful flowers of rosemary, lavender, borage and so many others will harmonize with the yellow tomato blossoms to cheer up an herb garden.

Growing your own plants will reward you with tomatoes that will far surpass the generic mass-market tomatoes in flavor and nutrition. And you may even become a culinary expert as you discover the wide variety of flavors that come with the different looks of your tomatoes.

Tomatoes are easy to grow in pots or in the garden itself. If you haven’t started your favorite varieties from seed during the winter, you’ll still find an exciting selection in retail centers. So, have fun growing tomatoes this year. And grow them decoratively in whatever space you choose.

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged Container gardening, decorative tomatoes, grow tomatoes, tomato containers, tomato varieties | Leave a comment

Plant views: fava beans

Published September 22, 2012 | By Jane

Vicia faba is the Latin name of the bean commonly known as the fava bean, broad bean, bell bean, field bean or tic bean. It is a member of the legume family with roots that fix nitrogen in the soil. Plant these beans from seeds since you are not likely to find them for sale as started plants. They germinate and grow easily. Unlike most other beans, fava beans grow best in cool temperatures making them a good winter crop in mild climates and fine for spring and summer elsewhere.

They grow into thick plants with remarkably showy flowers – stacks of long, white, pea-like blooms with unusual big black splotches – a color rarely seen in flowers. Pollinated flowers grow into long, soft, rounded, green pods with large beans. The pods are plush and velvety inside, creating a soft cushion for the beans.

Beans can be prepared from raw or dried seeds. Fava beans are an ancient food as they were cultivated in the Mediterranean area for thousands of years before the birth of Christ. Some few people have an inherited enzyme deficiency that can lead to a dangerous allergic response to fava beans. The condition is not common. Fava beans are favorite ingredients in many culinary dishes all around the world.

These beans are easy to grow and not grown as often as they deserve. They are attractive with showy flowers, taste delicious in a wide range of recipes and are highly nutritious. The Vicia faba is a fast-growing plant and enriches the soil where it has grown with nitrogen. Consider growing fava beans in your garden. They are very rewarding decorative and unusual vegetables.

Posted in Articles on Gardening, Vegetables and fruits | Tagged beans, edible gardening, fava beans, vegetable gardening, Vicia faba | 2 Comments

Which citrus to grow, oranges, lemons, grapefruits, tangerines, limes , etc.?

Published September 16, 2012 | By Jane

Oranges, lemons, tangerines, limes, and grapefruits are just some members of the citrus family. These are evergreen trees with fruits that are tasty and high in vitamin C. They are some of the most popular fruit trees grown in warm winter climates. They certainly offer attractive shaped trees that produce fruits that are nourishing, are flavorful when eaten fresh, can be squeezed for juices, are used in cooking, make great snacks and even look great as garnishes. Citrus trees grow in size from small dwarfs of 3 -4 feet tall to medium-sized shade trees. They have handsome, glossy, deep green leaves and flower with pretty white blossoms that fill the air with perfume.

Citrus trees are decorative and can be used in many ways in landscape design. Dwarf varieties are ideal to grow in pots. These can not only be ornamental but allow the pots to be moved to more protected quarters should cold weather threaten. Most varieties of citrus fruit trees can handle light frost, but they will not survive hard frosts or lengthy periods of cold. Winter cold snaps can damage developing fruit.

Grow citrus trees near seating areas, on patios or balconies or around windows and doors. The sweet fragrance of the flowers will fill the air. Use the plants as shade trees, decorative shrubs or plant them in groups to form screens. Citrus trees can be planted in home orchards, too.

If you don’t have a large piece of property for planting whatever varieties of citrus you want to grow, you will need to choose which kind of citrus tree is best your you to grow in your garden. So which is better, orange, lemon, kumquat, tangerine, grapefruit or lime? There are some things to consider when you decide on what kind of citrus tree to plant in your garden. They may help you select the best citrus tree for your landscape.

Frost-free locals will allow you to grow almost any of the citrus fruits. Give them full sun, rich, well-drained soil and occasional deep watering that will penetrate to the bottom of the root system. For cooler areas you will want to choose the more hardy varieties of citrus. The most frost tolerant citrus plants are the kumquats. Most tangerine varieties are quite cold tolerant. Lemons bear colder temperatures than oranges and the least frost tolerant citrus trees are the limes and grapefruits.

Also consider your soil. Citrus prefer a slightly acid soil with plenty of organics. You can amend your soil to make them happier. Sometimes you will notice the leaves yellowing on plants that are not able to take up iron sufficiently. If adding iron to your soil doesn’t help, try some iron sulfate to help acidify the soil so the iron can be absorbed.

Make sure you have a space where your tree will get plenty of sun. Citrus trees will tolerate a little shade, but they need at least some direct sun, too.

If you have limited space or simply can’t decide which kind of citrus you want for your garden, you might want to spend a little extra and buy a ‘citrus salad’ tree — a single stemmed tree with grafted branches from several different varieties. The ‘citrus salad’ tree will allow you to grow from three to five different types of fruit all on one tree.

Whether you want a specimen tree, a potted tree, a shade tree or a well-behaved, small evergreen tree, consider planting a citrus tree. If you choose the right variety for your garden, you will get wonderful fruit — oranges, lemons, grapefruits, tangerines, limes, kumquats, etc. — and sweet, fragrant flowers for much of the year as well as a decorative tree that will enhance the look of your landscape.