Ever dream about sipping freshly squeeze lemonade by the lemoncello trees in Italy? My sister in law managed to live this dream and honestly, the fresh lemon scent basically propels from the screen! 📸 haha, I wish.
Unsplash images, Ernest Porzi
I've always loved lemon trees for their natural feeling for freshness. Even if it only procured 1 lemon a year, I'd treat it as holy.
I decided to try my hand at planting a lemon seed, simply from the insides of an organic lemon picked up at a local grocery store. This process was surprisingly easy, even for a beginner!
First lemon sprouts
I experimented with 2 seeding methods. Dried up seeds, and some that were directly taken out of the lemon, rinsed, and then seeded. Both methods proved to be viable after a very important combination - heat and water. I know that sounds simple, but these are citrus trees that are used to climates just like Italy. So, lots and lots of heat and water.
About 3 weeks had gone by. Just when I was about to give up on the lemon seeds, I was digging around in the pot to see if any of the seeds sprouted and to my surprise, there was a massive root coming out of one seed! No leaves or stem, just one incredibly long root. When I saw this, I jumped with joy! Holy shit it's working!!
Immediately I placed a heating mat under the pot and gave it significantly more water. After a while, the spout emerged 🌱! Then another, and another, and another and another🌱🌱🌱. After about a month, 4 pleasant little lemon tree sprouts from 4 seeds had made it through the journey.
3 little lemons in a row
Something cool that I never knew of before, is how lemon tree sprouts will also produce little off-shoots. So one sprout will actually become 2, how cool is that?! As you can probably imagine, after a while, all of the sprouts needed their own individual home. So now there's one tree per pot and they're all growing beautifully ☺.
This is my first time growing a lemon tree, so I really don't know what the future will bring with these itty bitties, how big they'll grow, or even if they'll produce lemons! There's really only one way to find out.
One thing is for sure - growing a lemon from seed has been by far the most rewarding experience yet! I highly recommend trying it, even if you have zero gardening experience! It's so easy, anyone can do it.
Happy lemon tree planting, friends 💛 feel free to share the journey along with me!
Liv
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