By George, I did it. I grew citrus in Ohio!
As you can see above, I just harvested the first key lime from my dwarf tree. It is nestled next to an apple for perspective.
I have long joked that, one way or another, I was going to grow citrus in my back yard before I die. This really only allowed for two options: move to Key West (still an option, I hope), or find a way to grow a dwarf variety of a citrus tree. (The third option, which is to single-handedly bring on enough global warming to change the climate here, I deemed unaccepatable and irresponsible for a number of reasons.)
Last year, I bought a dwarf key lime tree from Stark Brothers. The dwarf variety is a full-sized lime tree grafted onto dwarf root stock; you can see a notch in the trunk where the graft occurred. The tree will grow in a small planter, but you have to be careful not to bury that notch, or you will get a full-sized tree. I planted mine in a 12" planter filled with compost, and this spring she bloomed and ultimately set limes. The tree lives happily outside during summer, and it moves inside to the south-facing dining room window in winter.
This is the first lime, which I photographed for you (you are always on my mind, dear reader!) and then proceeded to make a mojito. The flavor of this fresh little lime, untainted by pesticides or herbicides and oh-so-fresh, was so complex I was able to leave the lime juice out of the recipe. It was absolute bliss, and it came from a lime that I grew in our own little "micro-orchard."
The Analysis
Fast: Limes take several months to mature, from blossom to ripe fruit, but you don't really have to do anything to them in this period. I like to stop by and periodically encourage the tree to produce mojito fodder, but that is an optional step.
Cheap: It will take many limes to offset the price of this tree, but if I plan to use these mostly for mojitos (and if you doubt that, you haven't been reading this blog for long), I will probably realize savings pretty quickly. By using these limes, I will not be buying the expensive bottled lime juice, and I won't be buying a bag of key limes, only to use two of them and see the others go bad. Since I am growing my own mojito mint, I'm really down to just buying rum and club soda, and making simple syrup.
Good: A mojito is a luxury, and an occasional one at that. But sustainability isn't just about finding ways to get your necessities in a resource-friendly manner. Rather, it is about using sustainable principles to achieve both necessities and luxuries. And what could be more luxurious than coming home from the second-shift job on a cold winter day and seeing a ripe lime on the tree, just begging to become a little taste of the tropics?
Fast, Cheap, and Good is a philosophy of homemaking. I believe that we can care for ourselves and our families by adopting simple lifestyle habits and techniques that will improve our health, our connection to and stewardship of our world, and our finances, all without depending on a larger organization to help us through.
wow, if you can grow a lime in Ohio, bet I can grow one in Kentucky. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou sure can, dmarie. In fact, depending on how much farther south you are, you may do a whole lot better because you can leave the plant outside longer. Good luck!
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