I live in a townhouse and don’t have a ton of space to garden (I have a small patch of dirt about 5ft by 5ft). I finally decided that a semi-dwarf lemon tree would be the perfect thing to plant in that space.
I arrived at that decision because, after years of experimentation with gardening, my mom decided that fruit is the most cost effective produce to grow (Get Rich Slowly also found fruit trees to be a winner in their garden project). She has a small suburban California yard in which she has planted a variety of dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees. Currently she has two apple trees, a lemon tree, an orange tree, two kumquat trees, a peach tree, and a cherry tree in the ground with room for four more trees (basically they’re all planted in the lawn in the backyard, but with all the kids grown my parents don’t have much need for a lawn anymore).
The lemon tree has been there my whole life so I’ve always been accustom to being able to quickly run outside and grab all the lemons I could possibly want for cooking and being able to have fresh lemonade by the pitcher full. After moving out I discovered much to my surprise that lemons can easily cost $1 each.
While consulting my mom over what variety of lemon would be best for my cooking purposes, my dad suggested I get a lime tree instead so that we could trade fruit. I decided that I really use lemons more and my mom commented that the climate in the San Francisco Bay Area is a bit too cool for limes to fully ripen. In a later conversation my mom mentioned that the oranges on her orange tree have gotten sweeter over the 20 years she’s had the tree, the sweetness correlates to the warmth of the climate and I think we can attribute that change to global warming.
So shortly after I purchased my lemon tree (only $20 at Lowes – it’ll pay for itself in approximately 20 lemons and convert some CO2 back to oxygen in the process), my dad decided he needed to buy a lime tree to put in one of the remaining 4 spaces for trees in his yard. He’s hedging his bets that global warming will soon lead to ripe limes.
Shared in Fight Back Friday.
Related posts:
- Who Doesn’t Believe in Global Warming?
- Blog Action Day: Climate Change and Food Choices
- The Best of Less Is More: February 2009
- 15 Things I’ve Done Lately to be More Green
- Gardening in a Townhouse
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{ 6 comments }
Thanks so much for this tip! A gardening friend of mine was just mentioning dwarf fruit trees this morning, but I had never heard of them previous to that. It feels a bit less overwhelming to have a dwarf tree than to be dealing with several bushels of apples/cherries/peaches annually. We’re glad you joined us this week for Thrifty Green Thursday!
I love this idea and it makes me wish I lived in an area where we could have fruit trees. I once had one shipped and a few months later my dog ate the dang thing. it was so tragic! very jealous though!
I wish I lived in a climate where I could have a lemon tree! In addition to the lemons and the benefits to the environment, it will probably look beautiful growing in your small yard. We just moved into a house with two huge cherry trees. I am not sure they still produce fruit, but I hope so!
Thanks for the Thrifty Green Thursday tip!
We have full sized orange & lemon. This was the first year (out of 6) that we’ve had both fruits ripen. I’ve had a frost kill the blooms, I’ve had a frost spoil the fruit before it was ripe. Crazy, as we’re a zone 9!
In the area I call “the orchard”, we’re going to plant two LSU fig tress this fall, a couple of peach & pear trees, and this spring a friend gave us a 3 year old transplant of a Japanese plum. I’m pleased to see this tree is growing and thriving! I never have luck with fruit tree transplants. The Japanese plum fruits in early March, so it’s perfect for the time between winter fruits & spring/summer fruits.
I have plans for grapes and blue berry bushes as well.
What a great tip! I’ve always been focused on planting veggies as a way to eat more locally, but fruit trees are a great idea and probably even more frugal.
I wonder what fruit trees will grow in my area and how much they’ll produce.
Thanks for joining us in today’s Fight Back Fridays carnival.
Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
What a great idea! Used to live where fruit trees grew… but now we live where only apple trees grow.
I heard that you can plant apple trees in containers- which would be fantastic for our little urban garden! You’ve motivated me to look into it a bit more
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