Lemon Mussels Gremolata Recipe
Homegrown Lemon is Great with Seafood
If you are growing a lemon tree indoors and wondering what you will do with your homegrown lemons, here’s a recipe I love and included in my book Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t: Lemon Mussels Gremolata.
Thanks to author, storyteller, and chef Signe Langford for sharing this recipe.
And if you’re a gardener, keep in mind that a potted lemon tree is a great addition to the garden. As well as fresh lemons, you get fragrant flowers, and flavour-packed leaves that are very useful in the kitchen!
Lemons: A Perfect Patio Plant
Lemon trees are more cold-tolerant than many people realize, which makes them an ideal potted plant for decks, patios, balconies, and gardens in northern climates. That’s because the cold-tolerance means there are many ways to overwinter lemon trees.
You don’t need a greenhouse or a bright south-facing window indoors!
As well as the fruit, if you grow lemon you will get deliciously fragrant flowers and very aromatic leaves that you can use to flavour all sorts of dishes (I love wrapping lemon leaves around a firm cheese and grilling on the BBQ!)
Read about why lemons are a great choice for northern gardens
6 Reasons to Grow a Lemon Tree in a Cold Climate
Read about how cold lemon trees can get over the winter
Find out more about my book Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t
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More Lemon Resources
Book: How to Grow a Lemon Tree in a Cold Climate
Course: Grow Lemons
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Meyer Lemon Sorbet Recipe
By Steven Biggs
Meyer Lemon Zest is a Big Part of this Sorbet
If you are growing a Meyer lemon tree and are wondering what to make, here’s a great way to enjoy the unique flavour of Meyer lemons: Meyer Lemon Sorbet.
I included this family favourite in my book Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t: We make it using our own homegrown lemons.
This recipe uses both the juice and the fragrant zest.
If you’re growing other citrus, you can use this same recipe to make your own sorbet. For sweeter citrus, you might want to use a bit less sugar. For other citrus such as yuzu, you might add a bit more sugar.
Find out more about yuzu, a fragrant citrus that’s a great container plant for a home garden.
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Looking for More Lemon Ideas?
Here’s another lemon recipe: Mussels Gremolata with Lemon.
For more recipes and information about growing potted lemon trees in cold climates, go to the Lemon Home Page.
More on Growing Lemons
If you want to grow a potted lemon tree (that actually fruits) in a cold climate, below are a couple more resources to help you on your journey. I grow lemons and other citrus here, in Toronto, Canada. (My oldest potted lemon tree is from 1967!)
Book: Grow a Lemon Tree in a Cold Climate
Course: How to Grow a Lemon Tree in a Cold Climate
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Watering Lemon Trees
By Steven Biggs
Watering is the #1 Issue for Lemon Trees
In this excerpt from my book Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t, I talk about watering lemon trees:
How often you water your lemon depends on your soil mix, pot type, pot size, plant size, the weather, and if the plant is growing or dormant.
“I consider overwatering to be the number one issue,” Bob Duncan says as we chat about the problems he most often sees with lemons.
If the soil is constantly soggy — lemons hate soggy soil — the roots rot, which will eventually kill the plant.
How Much Water?
Watering is the number one issue for lemon trees.
When watering a potted lemon, apply enough water so that water comes out the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot — that’s when you know you have given it enough water. The other benefit to having water come out of the drainage holes at the bottom is that this also flushes out excess salts.
Another important watering consideration is that the lower soil in the pot remains more wet than the soil at the top — something you won’t be aware of unless you take the plant out of the pot. Don’t decide to water based only on how dry the top of the soil feels. Looks can be deceiving.
You want to give the plant time to use up the moisture in the bottom of the pot but not leave it to the point where the soil is too dry.
Once you get the hang of it, it’s not difficult. The following considerations will help you decide if it’s time to water:
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Knowing When to Water
In the summer, when the lemon is growing, it will need regular watering.
Your lemon will still need some water in the winter, even if it’s not growing much. That’s because lemons are evergreen — they keep their leaves — so the plant will continue to lose some water through the leaves. (If you upset them, however, they might drop their leaves.)
I like Bob’s watering lingo for lemons stored in a cool place over the winter: “Keep them on the dry side of moist.”
If the pot is small enough, with a little practice you’ll be able to tell if your lemon needs water just by picking it up and feeling the weight of it.
If in doubt, stick your finger into the soil.
Don’t forget: The type of pot that you have affects how often you have to water. Soil in unglazed terracotta pots dries out more quickly than soil in plastic pots.
In summary: Don’t water a little bit each day!
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More Lemon-Growing Information
Lemons: Articles and Interviews
Drop by the lemon home page for more articles and interviews to help you grow lemon trees at home.
Here’s a chat with a lemon expert to help you grow more lemons:
Lemons: Book on Lemons in Cold Climates
How Cold can Lemon Trees Get?
By Steven Biggs
Overwintering Lemon Trees
There are many ways to overwinter lemon trees, because they tolerate colder temperatures than many people realize.
In the picture below, I’ve loaded up a potted Meyer lemon plant to move into a protected area for the winter.
In the beginning, I used to grow it in the kitchen all winter.
Then, I started leaving it in the dark, cold garage for the winter.
These days, I put it in a greenhouse that I keep just above freezing.
Wondering what to do with a potted lemon tree for the winter? In this excerpt from my book Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t, I talk about how cold-hardy lemon trees are.
MY LEMON TREES DID VERY WELL when I moved into a house with an old sunroom that stayed just above freezing in the depth of winter.
There are many options for overwintering lemon trees in cold climates because they tolerate cold.
Sadly (for me), the dilapidated sunroom succumbed to a house renovation and my precious lemons were banished to an insulated garage for the winter. Normally, I kept an electric heater in the garage that I could flick on if the temperature plummeted.
But while we renovated, there was no power to the garage, and during a particularly cold spell, the temperature inside the garage dropped well below freezing.
I was heartbroken to think I’d lost my lemons.
Happily, they survived. Only a few branch tips died. For plants that I associated with Mediterranean climates,
I was delighted to learn that lemons are amazingly cold tolerant!
Many factors determine cold hardiness
It’s not an exact science.
For example:
Young plants are more tender.
Fruit and young shoots will be affected before older, woodier stems.
If the plant is already dormant from cool temperatures, it can better withstand cold than an actively growing plant.
With grafted lemon plants, some rootstock are more cold-tolerant than others.
Keep Your Lemon Tree Through the Winter
And enjoy fresh homegrown lemons!
Citrus expert Bob Duncan of Fruit Trees and More on Vancouver Island says to remember the temperature at which the fruit freezes.
The MOST Important Temperature to Remember
When I asked citrus guru Bob Duncan from the nursery Fruit Trees and More about lemon hardiness and minimum winter temperatures, he stopped me and took me back a step, saying:
“With lemons the fruit is on the tree in the winter. The question to ask is ‘What temperature does the fruit freeze at?’”
Bob went on to explain that the fruit of citrus is at risk at anything below -3°C (27°F).
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Enjoy not being bombarded by annoying ads?
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More Lemon-Growing Ideas
Lemon Book
Hi, We’re Steve and Emma!
We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard.
