April in My Food Garden

This blog post is oh so late! The month of April seems to be fairly flying by. Spring being one of the busiest seasons for us gardeners, time goes by so very quickly. However, if you are worried that you are too late to sow or grow, worry not, it is all just beginning. Even if you have not sown one seed yet, you are just fine, we have loads of time to grow anything and everything yet.

Here’s what is going on in my garden…

The beginning of April started off nice and dry so I was able to get in the garden to finish off all the spring prep. The beds have been weeded, amended with manure, and a bit of Gaia Green 4-4-4. Ideally, that should have been applied in fall, but time ran out.

With all this rain, more weeds are emerging near daily in the pathways so I go through them once a week with my handy Winged Weeder, the best hoe ever. I have been on top of the weeding pretty well this year, so am really hoping that I have caught most all of them for cleaner pathways this summer. Hubby will go along and torch all the tougher weeds. For some reason, we have grass growing in the potager. Makes no sense to me, I have not sown any grass seed and my goal is always to get rid of as much of the lawn as I can. Chip away at it little by little each year.

It seems like it has been colder than usual this spring so things are just starting to wake up and happen in the garden. The rhubarb is just popping through the ground, the cherries are just coming into bloom, the plum trees just finished. They were glorious while they were out though!

My tulips are just beginning to bloom, slowly opening up when we have a day of sunshine. What an odd year… but then again, aren’t they all? Each year is so different but always filled with hope and promise for a great gardening year ahead.

The garlic is looking amazing, as always. Thank goodness garlic is so easy to grow and pretty much takes care of itself… as long as the bed is kept free of weeds. It does not do well if it competes for nutrients with the weeds.

The bed was amended with chicken manure and fish compost last year so should not require much more of anything, but I am thinking of doing a bit of a trial. Will foliar feed 1/3 of the bed with liquid seaweed, 1/3 with Acti-Sol hen pellets (basically condensed chicken manure with added minerals), leaving 1/3 as is. See what grows best. I love to do trials! That is how one learns even more.

I threw some peas into the garden early last month and they are coming up nicely, both the sugar snap and the shelling types. I then tossed in another row of each the other day so as to extend the pea harvest well into summer.

If you have not yet sown any peas, soak them in warm water overnight and toss them into a wee trench or poke them into the soil about an inch or so apart. Soaking cuts down on your germination time by at least a week. Alternately, soak half the seeds and sow those at one end of the bed and the dry peas at the other end, instant succession sowing.

Despite all the pics everywhere on social media, peas and sweet peas do not need to be started indoors, they love the cool soil and this kind of weather. Toss them in and they will grow. I am big on direct sowing.

This month, I will be direct sowing these seeds…

• Carrots - I generally sow several patches of carrots this month, all colours and types, and then follow up with a couple more smaller patches when I harvest my cool season crops in May or June. I grow lots of Atomic Red, Chantenay, Danvers, and a purple of some sort, but will add other varieties as the season goes along.

• Beets - Another crop that I grow several batches of throughout the year, starting this month and a few more rows here and there in May and June. We love the long cylindrical beets for canning, but also grow the beautiful golden beets and striped Chioggas for salads and dinners. So good!

• Cauliflower - I picked up some seeds for a lovely purple cauliflower, called Purple of Sicily. It is super cool looking and they say it is easier to grow than the white cauliflower is. Good thing that as I usually have very little luck with cauliflower growing : (

• Parsnips - Sow these now and make sure to water them if the rains stop. Both parsnips and carrots take a super long time (up to 3 weeks!) to germinate and need to be kept moist until you see the wee tops popping through the ground.

• Radishes - love my radishes! The long French breakfast ones are so wonderful, but we grow them all ; ) They are cool season crops and will bolt when the heat comes in May-ish. Succession sow a few rows every few weeks if you really love them, like I do.

• Greens and lettuces - This is the only chance I get to grow leafy stuff, so I do sow seeds and plant transplants. My south facing garden is much too hot in summer so I only get home grown in spring and fall.

  You can also sow the following from seeds now, if you have not yet done so… cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, peas, scallions, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips. I will for sure be tossing in some of these seeds this weekend, as well.

The rest of my cool weather stuff will be grown from transplants this year.

• Kale - We do not go through a whole lot of kale at our house so I just plant one six-pack of the tall, crinkly Dinosaur type and one of the frilly ones, like Curly Dwarf Blue or White Russian. That will more than do us for all the kale eating that we do.

• Leeks and onions - Seedlings are my favourite way to go with both leeks and onions. We eat tons of onions, and use them for canning, too. One 4’ x 12’ bed is dedicated just for onions.

• Cabbage - We all love coleslaw, hubby loves sauerkraut, I love kimchi, so lots of cabbage going in again this year. Red, green, and savoy!

• Broccoli and Sprouting Broccoli - Love to grow and eat both!

• Cauliflower. Going to get the starters for regular white cauliflower and with any luck, both the starters and the seeds will be amazing this year. Gardening is full of promise, every year is a fresh new start, full of possibilities.

• Artichokes - It looks like the snowy winter did in my artichokes. I may have one that survives, time will tell, but that means I need to plant a few more. I like to have 3 or 4 at the end of one of my beds. Some for eating and some for the bees.

• Brussels Sprouts - Plant these guys this month and eat them at thanksgiving… yep, that is a long time from now.

• Potatoes - 0kay, so not really from starters, but from seed potatoes. These guys can go into the ground anywhere between mid April and mid June, so lots of time to deal with them if the ground is too wet this month.

Companion Plants

Don't forget to add all kinds of annual flowers to your garden for attracting pollinators and beneficial insects for better, bug-free veggies this year.

I plant a lot of companion flowers to entice a wide variety of good insects into my food garden, which in turn keeps my gardens virtually pest free…. and colourful, too.

The top 5 annuals that you should add to your beds are…

1. Marigolds! If you plant nothing else, add lots of marigolds to the garden. Repels a wide variety of garden pests.

2. Calendula - Sometimes called a Pot Marigold. The next more important addition to any vegetable plot, it attracts so many beneficials.

3. Sweet Alyssum - Not only smells great and is super pretty as it spreads around the garden, but also attracts a wide variety of both pollinators and other good bugs that eat bad bugs.

4. Nasturtiums - Pest repelling when used in the brassica bed and can also be used as a lure to draw the aphids away from your veggies.

5. Zinnias - My all time favourite flower. Super easy to grow, colourful, drought tolerant, and attracts bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, all sorts of beneficial insects to keep your garden pest free.

There are all sorts of annual flowers that you can add, all are wonderful additions to your veggie garden. If you like it, plant it, it is sure to attract some good bug, or bird, that will eat or repel the bad bugs.

Plant lots of sunflowers, both the tall ones and the multi-branched ones. Snapdragons, tagetes, dahlias, salvia, cosmos, asters, and geraniums are all flowers that I regularly add to my beds.

I will write a more in-depth post just about pollinator plants and companion planting, as my most favourite, number one tip for anyone growing an organic vegetable garden is to plant flowers, lots of them.

I will be sowing my zinnias this weekend, always around the middle of April, weather permitting. Just scratch the soil up a bit, toss in the seeds, scratch the soil again to make sure that the seeds are buried, water, and that is it. Water every couple of days if we are not getting rain (not a problem thus far this spring ; )

Calendula, cosmos, and sweet alyssum are also super easy to grow from direct sowing. When it comes to flowers, I love to both direct sow and use starter plants. Gives me more variety and more colour, more bang for my buck.

Happy sowing and growing!

How to Grow Asparagus

If you love asparagus and want to grow your own, plant right away, as it will be several years before you are harvesting enough spears to make a dinner.

Starting asparagus roots from seeds is a true lesson in patience. It will be 5 years from sowing till you are harvesting a few spears, and several more on top of that till you have enough for a meal.

Planting from good sized roots right from the start will have you enjoying an asparagus dinner in just a couple of years. A few spears next year and then progressively more each year thereafter.

I am growing both Sweet Purple and Jersey Knight asparagus in the same bed. The purple is touted to be sweeter and less string, while the green ones are said to be the best on the market for production. I like them both equally, they taste great, grow and produce well.

Ideally, when you go to purchase your roots, choose one of the newer varieties ( Jersey Knights or Jerseys Giant, or any of the purple varieties), as they will produce better than the older ones, like Mary Washington.

Asparagus roots that you buy from bulk are much plumper, raring to grow.

When you buy those roots, you may be picking them up in bulk or, most likely, in a little mesh bag from a box store or nursery. For the best results, look for nice, plump, fleshy roots with perhaps a bit of white, new growth showing at the top. If the roots are dry and skinny, chances are that they have dried out and died in storage, do not waste your time or money on those.

Here are the asparagus roots getting all rehydrated and plumped up in a liquid seaweed water bath.
Soak your roots for 30 to 90 minutes to rehydrate them.

Decide where best to plant your asparagus bed. Remember, this is a perennial planting and the it resents being moved, plan for the long haul.

You can plant about 6 weeks before the last frost date, so in my neck of the woods, this means mid-March. If you are unable to plant right away, store them in a cool, dark space until you can get to planting. If the ground is covered in snow or is too wet to work in, you may be better off to pop them into pots for a few weeks time until you are able to get them settled in their forever home.

Give them a good soak…. While you are digging the trenches for your asparagus, to rehydrate the roots, pop them into some warm water with a splash of liquid seaweed in it. Soak for 30 to 90 minutes, or as long as it takes to get the trenches ready.

Loosen up the soil and make sure the area is weed free, asparagus will not compete well for nutrients. It is a heavy feeder and will be in that spot for a long time, so you really want to get it off to a great start. Amend your soil with a good amount of manure or compost, and perhaps some organic slow release fertiliser, as well. I like Gaia Green 4-4-4 , a Canadian product from right here in BC, but you can use any kind that you like best, or even build your own organic fertiliser from the bulk section of the nursery.

Make a trench that is 8 inches wide and deep. Build a small mound down the centre of your trench so that your trench is shaped like a ‘w’.

Place the crown of the asparagus on top of the small mound, with the roots going down the sides. Ensure that the soil is loose and friable where so that the roots can spread deep into the bed.

The crown should be about 4 inches below the surface when you fill the trench back up with soil.

Plant the roots 12 to 24 inches apart in the trenches and the rows about 2 feet apart. In my 4’ wide raised beds, I was able to plant two rows of asparagus, a bit more than 1.5’ apart.

Water the roots with the liquid seaweed water they were soaking in, fill in the trenches, water the bed.

As a general guide, 8 to 12 roots should be enough to feed a family of 4 with asparagus. Some guides will say that you need as many as two dozen roots! Perhaps it depends on how much asparagus you want to eat and how much you have room for.

I planted 12 roots in this bed and then added more a couple of years later, for a total of 16 plants. We are just a family of 2 here at home, however, we also have adult kids with significant others that we feed regularly. Hmm, perhaps I need to plant some more ….

Never harvest all of the stalks each year. Leave some to grow into tall fronds which soak up the sun and nutrients that make your asparagus grow bigger and better.

In late summer, these fronds will start to yellow, chop them down and top dress your bed with some manure or compost, and perhaps a bit more slow release, organic fertiliser, as well.

Happy asparagus growing!

February In The Food Garden

Winter on the island has been very mild this year but then along came February, bringing the ‘weather’ with it. For some reason, early February seems to always bring on snow and cold, the harshest of the winter weather.

We got a wee skiff of snow, some minus temperatures, a biting cold breeze, and more wintery woes to come. Luckily, this will soon blow over and we will be outside planting early peas and broad beans into the garden beds.

Jumping Jesus aka Hairy Bittercress. Ugh!

Here are a few things that you can do this month in the garden, greenhouse, or cold frame.

In the yard…

- Prune apple, pear, fig, and other fruit trees. Choose a warm and dry day to prune, rainy day pruning may spread fungal diseases. Spray with Dormant oil/lime sulphur mix (sold as a kit) to smother over-wintering pests and fungal diseases. Spraying now will help reduce pest issues in spring and summer and best of all, you are not harming any of the beneficial insects as they are not yet out.

- Prune roses, cutting them back by 1/3 to promote new branching and more blooms. Spray with the dormant oil mix, as above. Helps to cut back on black spot.

- Weed your pathways and beds now, especially the awful seed-popping Hairy Bittercress that you see in the picture above. This stuff is dreadful and once you have it, you have it. You gotta stay on top of it or it soon takes over everything. How? It has exploding seeds! The plant looks harmless enough, small little rounded leaves, a slender stalk of teeny tiny little white flowers... and then POP! The seeds literally snap off the plant, scattering hundreds of weed seeds everywhere. Hairy Bittercress is one of the earliest weeds to emerge, in our area in springs up in January or February, going from small sprout to seed popping in just 6 weeks.

In the greenhouse/house

- This month we can fertilising our indoor plants, citrus trees, and over wintering annuals again.

- Check your over wintering bulbs (glads, dahlias, begonias...) If you see any that are mouldy, soft or mushy, remove them before they spread the rot to the other bulbs. If you see any that are starting to sprout, it is time to pop them into pots or planters. Transfer them to the garden when all risk of frost is over.

- Cut back your geraniums (pelargoniums) hard now for nice, bushy plants with lots of blooms all summer long. If you do not cut them back, they will end up leggy and less attractive by the time summer comes along.

For more geraniums, take the cutting and pot them up.

Garden Journals

- Jot things down. I personally have been keeping a garden journal for many years, a brand new book each year, with my thoughts and plans for both gardens and greenhouse. This year I printed up my own journals for the greenhouse, which I love so much. They are on lovely kraft paper for that vintage vibe, with drawings done by my super talented baby girl.

- Now is a terrific time to pick up a new journal for the gardening season ahead. Write down all your great ideas, recipes, favourite tomatoes to grow this year, new veggies to trial. Plot out your garden plan, your succession sowing schedule, colour schemes. Draw or paint pictures, cut pics out of magazines and paste them in your journal to inspire you. When you sow, when you harvest, how much you harvest… the ideas for your journaling are endless.  

Start artichokes from seed this month.

Seeds to Start in February

If you are not sure when to start seeds in your area, you will need to know two things. First, when is the last average frost date in your area? Second, when does the seed package say to sow? Check the back of the package for planting directions and timing.

Here on Vancouver island, last frost varies widely. On the south end of the island, it is March 28th, while here on mid-island we go by the April 28th date, a whole month later. Therefore, for us, if the seed package says to start 8 to 12 weeks before last frost, we are good to go. There are not many veggies that are started yet at this time, see the list below.

Veggies

- Peppers, both hot and sweet.
- Lettuce, greens, mustards
- Oriental greens like Boy Choi
- Peas
- Alliums - leeks and onions
- Artichokes

- Asparagus from seed, if you have the patience of a saint. Takes 5 years to go from seed to harvest.

Herbs
- Most all of the hardy, perennial ones ... oregano, parsley, mint, thyme, marjoram, sage.
- Start rosemary and tarragon from cuttings rather than seed.
 
Flowers
- Sweet peas
- Snapdragons
- Pansies and violas
- Petunias
- many, many more

In actuality, the flowers that you can start now, from seed, are much too numerous to mention. Check the back of your packages for start dates. If it says to start them 8 to 12 weeks before the last frost date, you are good to go.

Direct Sow In the garden
- Broad/fava beans (need no frost blankets or covers, just pop them in the ground this month)
- Radishes, spinach, winter lettuces, Oriental greens (start under cover, either low frames or row covers)

Change out your winter pots and planters with some spring colour. Pick up some forced potted bulbs, pansies, violas, primulas, and English Daisies to brighten your front stoop.

Soon, very soon!

Growing Lemons and Limes on Vancouver Island - Winter Care Guide

You can totally grow lemon, orange and lime trees here on the wet, west coast of Canada, both in pots and in the ground.

Our weather here on the west coast tends to be fairly mild in both winter and summer, but we can get snow and we do get cold snaps. Citrus trees do not tolerate freezing temperatures, they must be kept above 0°C. So how then to best protect them during a frosty cold snap?

Contrary to popular belief, the answer is not to bring them indoors for the winter months, unless you have a cool sunroom or 'conservatory'. Citrus do not thrive (and may not survive) indoors, as our homes tend to be much too hot, much too dry, and not near bright enough.

GENERAL WINTER CARE - CITRUS IN POTS

All citrus trees like humidity and cool-ish temps, ideally between 5° - 12°C with 7 to 8 hours of bright light in winter time.

I keep my citrus trees in a greenhouse during the winter months. As the heating is super expensive, I keep it on the low end of the scale, at +5°C from November through till March. They love it, the cool, humid greenhouse keeps them flowering and fruiting all winter long.

When I say that I set it at +5, that means the lowest temperature that it will go to. The temperature in the greenhouse will be higher in the daytime, usually, and on sunny days, of course, but it will not dip lower than +5. Also, even if it were to rise to +30 during the day, it is not the same as +18 inside the house. The greenhouse is always humid and airy, not tightly sealed as our homes. If our homes were moist like the greenhouse, we would have algae and mould growing everywhere.

BUT.. How to over winter lemons, limes, and oranges without a bright sunroom or a heated greenhouse?

Potted up trees are easy to move around from spot to spot, as needed. If your trees are large and the pots are heavy, you will want to consider how best to protect them before placing them in their winter home. While winter temps are above 0°C, leave them outside rather than inside the house … like on the front porch or doorstep, under the eaves, in an unheated hoop house or greenhouse, under some kind of roof or overhang to protect them from the winter rains. They do not like to sit in wet soil.

A shed or garage is not a good idea as it would be too dark, unless you supplement with a grow light. Close to the house on the south or west side to soak up some of the heat from the siding is a great idea.

I cannot find a picture of the home made version of the greenhouse I mention below, but this is very similar. You could buy something like this mini greenhouse, or build one, to put over your citrus tree in winter. Plug in the Christmas lights during cold nights and cold snaps, it will look festive and be perfectly happy in it’s warm little mini greenhouse. Use the greenhouse in spring for your seedlings.

KEEPING CITRUS WARM DURING A COLD SNAP

What to do with your tree if a cold snap threatens?

1. Bring it in - If it is a smaller pot, simply bring it in for the night, or for as long as the cold snap lasts, then pop it back out again when temps are above 3°C. It can go in for the night and out for the day all winter long, if you have the patience for that.

2. Unheated greenhouse or hoop house - Run an extension cord to your greenhouse. Inside the greenhouse have a small heater, or a light stand with a couple of 100 watt lightbulbs in it, or a strand of Christmas lights around each tree. Plug in when night time temps are going to dip lower than 2°C.

3. On the porch, wrapped in Christmas lights. - Wrap your trees in old-fashioned Christmas lights, not LED as they emit no heat. Plug them in during a cold snap and wrap with a frost blanket (white fabric) to retain the heat by the tree.

4. Build a shelter - I know people who have built a 3 sided wood framed little ‘greenhouse’ that fits in snug by the house. They plug in the Christmas lights and fit the little greenhouse around the tree, snug against the wall of the house. The wooden (or pvc) frame is covered with either poly or the white frost fabric. With the protection of the inexpensive ‘greenhouse’ and the lights turned on, the tree will stay cozy and warm without great cost.

If you really feel that you have no options, the most tolerant citrus to bring indoors for the winter are Meyer’s lemons, Calamondin oranges, and kumquats. Keep away from drafty locations, heaters and vents, place in a bright window, in a cool room, on a pebble tray of water, mist often.

This picture is a lemon growing outside in Saanich on southern Vancouver Island. This is Bob Duncan’s lemon tree, of Fruit Trees and More.

GROWING LEMONS OR LIMES OUTDOORS IN WINTER

Sour or acidic citrus, like lemons and limes are hardier, so can be grown in the ground here in our zone 7 and 8 gardens, with protection. Sweeter citrus, like oranges, need to go into pots as they require warmer temps to thrive.

Grow your citrus on the southern or southwestern side of the house, in a sheltered spot. They do not like windy areas, so make sure to not plant in a wind tunnel. Citrus trees do not like wet feet, plant in well draining soil or build a small raised bed for your tree to provide great drainage.

Plant under the eaves or build an overhang, as in the picture above, to protect the tree from our winter rains and to soak up heat from the side of the house. Wrap your tree in Christmas lights, the old fashioned kind, not LED as they emit no heat. Plug in lights during a cold snap and cover with homemade greenhouse as mentioned above for the potted plants, or attach frost blankets to the overhang, secure the bottom with rocks or weights of some kind, thus creating a nice cocoon for your lemon or lime.

For more about general citrus needs and care, please see Part One HERE.

Happy Gardening & Citrus Growing

Growing Lemons & Limes On Vancouver Island - Care Guide

Here on the Pacific North West, we tend to have fairly temperate weather, mild summers and winters. This works well for growing lemons, limes, and other citrus trees both in pots, and for some, even outside in the ground.

GROWING

Sour fruits, like lemons and limes are hardier and can be grown in the ground here in our zone 7 and 8 gardens, with protection, while sweet ones, like oranges, need to go into pots as they require warmer temps to thrive.

GROW IN THE GROUND

To plant in the ground, you need a sheltered area with good, loose, rich soil and great drainage, a raised bed would be even better. Plant on the south or southwest side of the house, under the eaves or an overhang, close beside the house… this is not a tree to plant out in the open. Plant in an area that is sheltered from the winds.

GROW IN POTS

Citrus can be grown in pots quite easily. The best choices for pots are dwarf trees, like Meyers, Eureka, or Lisbon lemons.

All citrus trees prefer clay/terra cotta pots over plastic, or even glazed ceramic ones. While I always knew they liked well draining soil and hated wet feet, I learned about the pots purely by accident. I had two #1 gallon Meyer’s Lemons left on the nursery sales floor one summer. I decided to keep one for myself and so potted it up into a nice clay pot, I have a thing for ornamental trees in clay pots. By the end of the summer, my lemon had more than doubled in size compared to the one still in the black plastic grower pot!

I also had a Blood Orange tree in a lovely glazed pot, it looked nice enough but was not fruiting much nor growing. I soon switched it into a clay pot, and again it made a huge difference in how well the tree looked and produced. It began to thrive. So, plant in clay, they will thank you for it.

SOIL FOR POTS

Citrus do not like wet feet. Always use a good quality bagged potting soil with great either bark chips or perlite to provide good drainage, or both. I use 5 parts Organic HP Pro-Mix (the HP stands for high porosity) mixed with 2 to 3 parts of bagged manure or compost.

CARING FOR YOUR CITRUS

WATERING

Until you get to know your tree well, always check the soil before you water. Citrus prefer to be kept on the dry side to thrive, they do not like to sit in wet soil or poorly draining soil, but nor will they thrive in bone dry soil. Stick your finger into the soil, you want the top inch or two to be dry be before you water again.

How often you water will fluctuate throughout the year. In summer, I water my potted trees quite readily, about every third day. Water thoroughly till water is flowing from the bottom and then go back a few minutes later and do it again. You want the water to really soak into the peat moss based potting mix, not just flow down the sides of the pot. Let the top inch or two dry out before you water again.

In winter, it will depend on where you have your tree, the temps, and amount of sunshine. I grow mine in a heated, but cool (+5°C) , greenhouse on Vancouver island. We tend to have grey days, lots of rain, not so much sunshine. Therefore, I generally only water once every three or four weeks. If you keep the soil too wet, you will lose your leaves and possibly even your tree. Cold and damp is not a good combination. This winter has been a bit sunnier, it seems, and warmer, so I have been watering about every two to three weeks instead. As the days get longer and brighter, water more often.

If you have yours indoors for the winter (more on winter care in part 2), it will likely require water more often in the warmth of the house.

FEEDING

All citrus are very heavy feeders, they need lots and of nitrogen plus good amounts of both potassium and phosphorous to thrive. Apply an organic, slow-release citrus fertiliser for the best results, or if you cannot find a citrus food, use a 12-6-6 (or similar) slow release feed.

In addition to the slow release, they will also benefit from a top dressing of manure in spring or early summer, as well as a few doses of a liquid or water soluble feed during the summer months. I also give mine a boost with a nitrogen and iron fertiliser occasionally, the liquid Garden Pro 5-0-0.

POT SIZE AND TRANSPLANTING

Plant your tree in a pot that is just slightly bigger than the root ball, about 2 or 3 inches bigger. You do not want to go too big or the soil will stay too damp and you will get root rot. Up size every second or third year, as the tree grows.

When you get to the size pot that you want to stay at, anywhere from 14” to 20” across, depending on your tree, you can just renew the soil in that same pot and root prune every 3rd year. Lift the tree out of the pot, add fresh, new soil to the bottom. To root prune, just pull off (with your fingers) about 1/3 of the soft feeder roots from the bottom of the root ball. Place your tree back into the pot and fill up the sides with fresh soil. Good to go for another 3 years.

PRUNING

They will benefit from a pruning now and again for shaping and for stronger branching. Always remove suckers from below the graft, they are root stock and will quickly overtake your grafted tree. Remove dead branches, cracked, broken ones.

SUN AND WIND

Citrus will require a good 7 to 8 hours of sunlight, you may need to supplement with additional lighting if you are growing it indoors. They are just fine in a greenhouse, no extra lighting needed, even with our grey winters.

They do not like windy locations. If planted outside, make sure that they are in a sheltered area, away from both summer and winter winds. Place pots out of the wind, they will dry out much faster and may drop their blossoms and fruits, too.

HUMIDITY

They love the humid greenhouse in winter. The problem with our sealed tight houses in winter is that they are too dry and too hot. If, however, you have them indoors or in a sunroom, you can help add humidity by placing them on a pebble tray with water, top up regularly, and mist occasionally.

CURLING LEAVES, BLOSSOM DROP, LEAF DROP…

Curling leaves and leaf drop are usually indicators of too little water. They do not like wet feet but they cannot go too dry either. You will get more fruit and better fruit if you water regularly.

Leaf curl can also be an indicator of too much water. Confusing, I know. Over-watering washes out nutrients so you get yellowing leaves and root rot. Is hard to stop root rot, so always check the soil with your finger before watering. The top inch or two should be dry before you water again.

Blossom drop is very normal. Your plant will generally make lots and lots of flowers. It cannot maintain all of the flowers and so will drop some.

Little baby fruits that turn black or fall off are fruits that did not get proper pollination. Nothing to worry about unless you are losing lots of them. If you want, you can assist your citrus with pollination, in winter, by going from flower to flower with a small paintbrush or a q-tip.

COMMON PESTS

The most common pests that we encounter on citrus around here are soft scale, whitefly, and aphids. You may also get mealy bug or spider mites, but I have never had an issue with either of those.

Soft scale.. see the picture above. To prevent scale, you want to shower off the foliage and the tree with a good strong jet of water every few weeks, especially the under sides of the leaves. It also helps to pop it outside for the spring and summer so that the birds and the beneficial insects can eat the bugs off. Do not place your citrus trees beside a Sweet Bay, should you have one, as they are also prone to scale.

If you end up with scale anyways, you cannot just spray with a soap or oil, you will need to scrub it off as the wee little bug is hiding under that protective shell. Wipe the scale from the leaves with a cloth (they are usually on the undersides) and scrub the trunk and branches with a soft brush and warm, soapy water. They come off quite easily. Rinse off the soap well. I have also heard that baby bum wipes work well for cleaning the leaves.

If you find ants on your tree, you have either aphids or whitefly. Both will secrete a sticky honeydew that the ants farm. To get rid of aphids, spray with a Safer’s product, either Soap, Trounce, or End-All. You will need to reapply several times. I blast my trees with a strong jet of water first to get rid of some of the bugs, then spray with the Safer’s product till dripping, leave on for 15 minutes, give it a shower to remove the soap residue and dead bugs, perhaps lingerers, too.

Whitefly is harder as they fly about and do not wait around to get sprayed, but I use the same method as for the aphids. I never use the yellow sticky strips in summertime as it also attracts and traps bees, beneficial insects, and even birds. Save the sticky strips for monitoring purposes in the winter time.

Sooty Mould

If you find a black powdery substance on your leaves, fruits, and branches, you have what is called Sooty Mould. This is a fungus that grows on the honeydew secreted by aphids or other bugs. The mould itself is unsightly but is not a big issue, just an indicator of a bug problem. Wash off the soot with warm, soapy water and a cloth or soft scrub brush. Then spray with a Safer’s product, as above, to get rid of the bugs that are making the honeydew.

For information about HOW TO OVER-WINTER YOUR CITRUS, please see Part Two HERE….

Happy Gardening & Citrus Growing!