Lemon and Kaffir Lime Trees

If you look at the Gardener's Watch blog (http://gardentimeline.blogspot.com) you can see this little tree from it's beginnings. It was the only one out of three in this same pot that sprouted. Now it's thigh high. You can see several places where I have already taken som leaves to use in cooking. I prefer the shredded method. The leaves aren't that tough especially when they've cooked down a little. I believe I will need to get another one started soon though if I want any fruit. I'm not sure if it will cross with the other citrus in the area very well but it might. It would be nice to be able to propagate them though without having to find more seeds or plants.

My oldest, a lemon tree, sits in the back yard at the moment near the onion bed. It needs a little more sun and water than it has been getting so I might have to move it up front where the kaffir lime sits. There are other citrus plants in the area in other yards so there shouldn't be any problem with fruiting once it starts to flower.

I'll probably need to repot it soon so it has more room to grow. I hope to keep it 6-8 feet tall unless I get around to building a large greenhouse. Then who knows how big it may get.

Being a Citraphile

My love of citrus started in my teens when my Stepdad would take a lemon and eat it with a little salt. After I grew up and got married I continued with my planting obsession and took my first lemon seed from a wedge served to me with my glass of water.
That seed sprouted and grew into a little tree. It lasted three years until I tried to get it to acclimate to the climate on the balcony while living in an apartment. After that I realized that it was relatively easy to sprout citrus seeds. Now I have one lemon tree, about 8 years old, 1 kaffir lime tree in it's first year and a struggling little key lime tree that I really need to put in a bigger pot. There were several others but I left them out and they got snowed on.
I need to plant more varieties but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Buda's hand it one of the more exotic varieties that I have recently found is supposed to be good candied, Iron Chef episode.
I figure it's about time to dedicate an entire blog to the growing of citrus and the love of using it in cooking.