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The warmer weather is upon us so it is time to stock up the refrigerator and pantry with those extra ingredients needed for some new spins on traditional summer beverages. In this post I share my yummy mint grapefruit lemonade recipe that is super easy to make. Have you tried growing your own citrus yet? I’m excited to share these with you over the next 2 weeks so be sure to check back under the beverage category on my site.
Mint Grapefruit Lemonade Recipe
The Mint Grapefruit Lemonade is a personal favorite because I’m a big promoter in growing some fun container citrus like I have in my home garden here in Ohio. There are so many great tools you can use to squeeze your own fresh citrus juice. You can find hand juicers at Walmart, Kroger and of course Amazon. Be sure to find one that doesn’t chip paint like my old Pampered Chef tool I had to toss in the recycle bin. I hope you enjoy this recipe and be sure to share with your friends! Thanks for checking out this printable recipe share at the bottom of this post. I hope you take advantage of this option and add this to your favorite recipe folder to use at later date.
Growing Your Own Citrus
Mint Grapefruit Lemonade is just one of the recipes you can grow at home. I have so much fun growing various citrus trees like lemon, lime, orange and kumquat in my greenhouse. It is fun to harvest my own citrus year-round in my edible garden. Honestly, they are gorgeous trees and fun to grow but you won’t get a huge harvest off of shrubs grown in a home garden.
Creative Growing Citrus in a Greenhouse During Summer Heat
Everything about the 20-foot geodesic biodome greenhouse is AMAZING! In today’s post, I share a growing update featuring summer and citrus growing. After leaving for five days when the summer heat hit my area. Be sure to check out the video and creative images featuring the citrus highlighted in today’s post. Summer Citrus Growing Video My husband and I have been traveling more this year. I think I am more excited about leaving my greenhouse to see what it will do when I leave it behind for a few days. In this video you will see the citrus and a few other amazing plants I grow year-round in Northwest Ohio. Be sure to subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss an update! https://youtu.be/jD1Tt2XzZkQ This video can be found on my Bren Haas YouTube Channel. Some of the plants featured in this video are listed below along with detailed growing tips. Growing Citrus I’ve been growing citrus since 2009 when a local garden center owner gifted a lime shrub to me. I never imagined that just a few short years later I would be growing citrus year-round in a dome garden. Here I am today with lemons, limes, orange, and a kumquat. Growing citrus is no longer a luxury only southern gardeners can enjoy. With the right plant and a little care, you can have your own citrus basically anywhere. Citrus Growing in the Dome We’ve had record amounts of rainfall in the outside garden this spring and summer but the dome inside is loving it! The best thing about having this space is being able to learn how to control the conditions. As the daylilies are blooming and it is so wet in the meadow where the dome is built I am unable to get the golf cart back to haul the citrus out if I wanted to. In years past I had moved the citrus outside because I felt they needed to be pollinated. The citrus I grow today is all self-pollinating meaning they don’t need another plant to produce. It is amazing all the wonderful things I am learning to love to grow in the 20′ geodesic biodome in my backyard. With a little tender loving care, the citrus is pruned to shrub size after each harvest. It won’t be long and I will be sharing some great recipes using the lime and lemons I harvest this season. Be sure to follow my adventure or subscribe to my newsletter for more details. Growing Citrus Tip There are a few things to keep in mind when growing your own citrus. I’ve listed below a few things to keep in mind when beginning your creative adventure. Dwarf Citrus Varieties We are super lucky today to have so many different citrus plants available for us to grow in small spaces. Traditional citrus trees are huge so be sure to find varieties that stay compact. Container Grow the citrus in a decorative container you can easily move indoors when cold temperatures arrive in late Autumn or early Spring depending on where you grow. The container should be sturdy and well-drained. Sunshine No matter what variety of citrus you pick the plant loves sunshine. If you don’t get at least six hours of sunshine during the summer season you may consider using LED lights. Be sure the citrus plant is in a great sunshine zone in your greenhouse or garden patio. Pest Growing citrus in the greenhouse or dome doesn’t protect the plant from pest. Be sure to check your plants regularly for critters such as ants, aphids and scale. Ants domesticate many pests that damage plants and citrus trees, and ants will move those bugs from one food source to the next. Ants love the sticky residue left behind by scale so keep this under control by applying fungistatic soap or natural methods like releasing ladybugs. The link provided are products I have used in the past and recommend. ? Let’s Connect I would love to hear from you and what you think of growing in a space like the one featured in this video. Be sure to comment on the blog post or leave a detailed message on my contact page.Happy Gardening Year-Round,
Growing Healthy Citrus in Your Home Garden
When I look back on my years of gardening I would have NEVER imagined I would be growing citrus in Ohio. In today’s post, I share my story on how I recommend growing healthy citrus in your home garden. Growing Healthy Citrus My very first citrus shrub that was gifted from the owner of Black Diamond Nursery in Perrysburg, Ohio. I had just completed a photo assignment in 2009 for a project I was doing for Garden World Report featuring some of my favorite garden centers during the holiday season. The beautiful citrus plant inspired me to research growing citrus in hardiness zone 5b. The gift also made me aware of the fact that garden centers do appreciate what I share about them! Winter During the winter months when temperatures fall way below freezing my citrus are growing in my 20 foot geodesic bio dome. Before I had the dome the citrus did well in my traditional greenhouse that was heated for winters in Ohio. My first lime shrub experienced temperatures in the low 20*s when my gas heater in the greenhouse failed in 2010. After the 1st winter growing the lime shrub successfully I had caught the citrus grower bug ( and I don’t mean the time I used ladybugs to tackle the aphids)! I usually harvest over a dozen limes off a 30″ container planting each year. I may have more fun with the citrus during the winter months then I do in this spring or summer outdoors. Check out how my plants looked from a share on Twitter. Citrus Varieties for Home Gardeners As of 2018, I have 6 healthy citrus shrubs in my collection. Below are the varieties I grow and recommend. New Improved Myer Lemon I purchased this in late June at Benches Garden Center in Elmore Ohio at 40% off. If you follow me on Twitter you will remember me Tweeting about this for the entire month due to my excitement and with hopes of others checking out that garden center sale. Watching this lemon shrub by Duarte Trees and Vines grow has been like waiting for Christmas morning present opening. Myer Lemon: my very first lemon shrub that I found at the local garden center. Coincidently I believe the plants were on clearance because no one knew what they were. Lime Kumquat Shrub: Good News – just like the lemon and lime varieties this plant self-pollinates! The kumquat reminds me of my trip to Brazil. During the trip, I had many drinks made from this fruit in South America The kumquat fruit was an ingredient in Guarana Antarctica Soda which was my choice beverage while in South America. This soda is the 2nd best selling beverage in Brazil. After taking a quick look at their website I don’t see it listed but it could be the fact that I don’t know Portuguese very well. I do see a fruit called Guarana listed that I hope to find out more about and share in future posts. This is the Fukushu variety of Kumquat that is thrown-less making it ideal for landscapes and containers. Check back to my site in a few months or follow my RSS via email so I can tell you how this fruit taste. Caring For Citrus Tips Lime citrus blooms / fruit citrus kumquats citrus in brens home garden citrus on home garden porch citrus in home garden citrus in home garden Growing your own citrus plants is super easy thanks to varieties like I just mentioned on this blog post. There are a few important points I want to highlight listed below. When growing in hardiness zones 3-7 be sure to grow the citrus in a container that can be moved out of freezing temperatures. Feed the citrus at least twice a year with calcium fertilizer. Use a loose soil that doesn’t hold water. Provide good drainage for the plant because the roots do not like to get too wet. Be sure the plant gets plenty of airflow and sunshine. The citrus plants prefer full sun most year-round. Watch out for fungus and bugs. Aphids like to attach the citrus plants especially during the cooler and less sun seasons. Keep the citrus pruned to a manageable shape. The plants I grow are pruned once a year to a 3 foot shrub. The only thing I have to look out for when growing these varieties organically is aphids. I’ve been using on these containers this summer and I couldn’t be happier with the quick growth and the blooms being produced. In the past, I used other organic solutions to feed the lime shrub but I’m seeing the best results so far with this product that is only available at Independent Garden Centers. Let’s Connect I am looking forward to learning more about your citrus growing experience. Be sure to leave a comment below or reach out to me on Social Media. Happy Citrus Growing,
Let’s Connect
Anxious for Summer… I hope this beverage puts you in that summer state of mind like it did for me! I’m all about connecting with others so please share a comment so I can stop by your blog or just know that you stopped by to read this recipe. Are you a recipe fan like me? Let me know what you are looking to cook up and I’ll share with you.
Great to connect,
