The Suburban Food Forest

They tell you that growing citrus in pots is easy and that they love it in containers. But I have been growing a dwarf lemon in a huge terracotta pot for about four years now and, after a brief moment at the beginning where it seemed to be happy, it has been suffering from depression on and off for about three years.

I admit to keeping one or two sneaky lemons in the first couple of seasons instead of picking everything off to direct its energy into growth, but I dutifully picked all the flowers and tiny fruit off most times. I topped it up with new compost whenever it seemed to need revitalising; but perhaps I did not keep enough water up to it – a mistake in my garden as I have a chronic ant problem, the suspected cause of my slow lemon death.

My little Meyer finally succumbed to a severe scale infestation and got covered in sooty mould. I am quite ashamed of my dreadful parenting and the fact that I could potentially lose such a beautiful little tree to sheer neglect. After fighting a losing battle with white oil as a weapon against the tiny monsters, I gave up and went for the drastic option – I cut everything off, dug it up, and planted it in the ground. It is in a special spot at the back of the garden, where I will also put the dwarf lime so they can keep each other company. (The special spot being where my beautiful Zoe was buried two years ago.)

EDIT:

Less than two months later and the first signs of new growth are coming through!