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Saturday, January 26, 2013 – Daily News 3B Country Life garden & home Dwarf fruit trees bring Florida to your door By Susan Smith-Durisek Lexington Herald-Leader (MCT) LEXINGTON, Ky. — The flavor, fragrance and bright color of zesty lemon, tangy lime and sunshine-sweetened orange can lift mid-winter doldrums. Mix in the common grapefruit and tangerine and the exotic pomelo, clementine and kumquat and you have a balm for the impatience of home-bound gardeners waiting for spring to arrive. If your first reaction is that we cannot grow citrus fruit outside Florida, think again. Follow the tradition of post-Renaissance orangeries — heated, glass-walled overwintering rooms where citrus trees were kept. Contemporary gardeners can house their plants indoors near a well-lit window that faces southeast to catch the morning sun in winter, and then move them outside to bask in the summer sun. "It isn't hard to have a couple dwarf fruit trees," Lexington, Ky., gardener Clifton Smith says, "and the smell is heavenly." Smith maintains what might be Lexington's premiere citrus grove. During the warmer months, there are about 30 citrus trees growing in large planters that line the walls of an interior courtyard of his home. The trees, trucked here from California by his brother Joe Terry Smith about 27 years ago, include dwarf Meyer lemons, navel oranges and a Mexican lime. In winter, the trees are kept in a greenhouse, alongside other tender patio plants. It takes some climateenhancing maneuvers to keep warmth-loving citrus trees and shrubs healthy and blooming in temperate Central Kentucky: using containers that can MCT photo Clifton Smith's well-kept orange, lemon and lime trees, almost 30 of them, have thrived in Lexington for 27 years. In summer, their containers line the walls of an inner courtyard patio at his home; in winter, they are moved to his greenhouse, along with other tropical plants. be moved between indoors and outdoors easily, regularly watering well-drained soil, employing humidity control for dry indoor spaces, and making them available to lots of light. Many types of citrus trees are now available grafted onto dwarfing rootstock, which along with pruning to establish a strong support structure, allows for manageablesized plants that bear fullsize fruit. Local garden centers tend to have a good supply of plants available, and staff can guide gardeners with cultivation tips. At Pemberton's Greenhouses in Lexington, the scent of citrus flowers and fruit is delicious as it wafts through the air. "There has been a recent upswing in people's desire to have citrus fruit plants," said Ashley Pemberton Herndon of Pemberton's. "Demand for the last couple of years has been very large." Janna Pemberton Schmidt adds that changes on the supply side — including changing USDA regulations and improved ease and reduced expenses of shipping — have afforded access to a greater diversity in types of trees and regular, reliable delivery. The Pembertons' greenhouse is stocked with about 150 citrus plants, including kaffir, Bearrs, sweet and Mexican limes; Meyer, Ponderosa and Eureka lemons; and calamondin and Washington oranges. Some citrus varieties produce buds and fruit throughout the year, but others are more seasonal. If you decide to buy a citrus plant, it can be an investment that will last decades. In the 1960s, Lexingtonian Ruth Lawton bought a pair of small orange tree seedlings for less than a dollar at a roadside souvenir stand near Ocala, Fla., as a gift for her mother, Ruth Gaitskill. The plants turned out to be calamondin oranges, which are mainly ornamental, bloom year-round and produce dozens of very tart, bright orange fruit the size of a golf ball. Gaitskill was a great gardener; she clipped the roots to keep the plants small, and planted them in containers that were moved indoors to a sunny east-facing window in winter and then placed outside on the patio in the summer. More than 50 years later, they are still vigorous producers and have become family heirlooms. Lawton's husband, Clyde, says the oranges taste "as bitter as gall," but has discovered that their juice can be substituted with delicious results for the lime in the classic Key lime pie recipe. Trees bearing Meyer lemons are sought after by cooks because of their sweet taste and floral fragrance. Meyer lemon and lime trees are perfect for beginning gardeners who would like to start with a modestly sized plant. Another citrusy culinary delight is the kaffir lime. From her childhood in Iran, Lexington resident Zahra "Zary" Tavakoli remembers the summer homes people kept, which generally had orchards filled with all sorts of fruit trees. One of her favorites is the kaffir lime, whose pleasantly aromatic leaves are used as part of the spice mixes in southeastern Asian cuisines. "Kaffir lime is like a Thai bay leaf with a ton of citrus aroma," says Tavakoli, a physician. She doesn't grow kaffir limes at home, but she does grow citrus. She and her husband, Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals CEO Eric Ostertag, have a grafted plant that is half Meyer lemon and half Persian lime. They received it as a wedding present several years ago to mark marrying their European and Persian backgrounds. Ideas in book might make you an overnight farmer By William Hageman Chicago Tribune (MCT) Some people don't have room for an expansive garden. Others don't have the time. Lia Leendertz and Mark Diacono have solved both problems with "The Speedy Vegetable Garden" (Timber Press). Their 208-page book gives readers step-by-step instructions on how to grow and harvest fresh vegetables in the blink of an eye. Well, OK, in days or weeks. In some cases, you can call yourself a success in just hours. "Lots of people think that growing your own food takes lots of time," Diacono said via email from England, where both authors live. "We realized that some of the tastiest things to eat are also some of the quickest to grow, and wanted to spread the word. We felt sure we could produce a book that would give quick results and a boost of confidence to beginners, but also give old hands a few new ideas." The quickest return is from Leendertz and Diacono's pumpkin soak. Take a handful of seeds and soak them for one to four hours. Just that short time will soften them and kick-start the germination process. Rinse and add to salads or a sandwich. "Protein, vitamin and digestible energy levels all surge and metabolic activity increases as it becomes primed for life," Leendertz said, also via email. "But more importantly it turns from nutty and hard to juicy and fresh." Also quick, easy and tasty are sprouts. Healthy too. The authors devote more than 60 pages to soaks, sprouts and micro-greens, crops that don't need a lot of time to become table-ready. Mustard or red cabbage microgreens take only 7-10 days; pea sprouts only three days. And these young versions often have more flavor. "Essentially these are strong-tasting herbs and salad leaves but sown thickly and harvested young," Diacono said. "Most are ready after about 10 days. You are eating the seedling of the basil or coriander or rocket plant, and each one is like a little flavor bomb. The taste is stronger than a leaf of a grown plant, but also cleaner and fresher. They are absolutely magic sprinkled on salads." Leendertz and Diacono also offer recipes and ideas for how to best use what you grow. And, Leendertz pointed out, although you get more flavor with the sprouts and microgreens, you will be sacrificing yield somewhat. "The techniques in the book are not for you if you like to keep your entire street supplied with lettuces and zucchini through the summer months. But if you want just enough of the very tastiest, freshest produce, little and often, you will find a great many ideas here." The book goes beyond tiny greens and salad fixins'. Relatively quick-tomature vegetables such as kale (42 days), lettuces (21-42 days) and spinach (50 days) are represented. But so are some items that might surprise. In 70-90 days, you can grow a small crop of early potatoes. Leendertz and Diacono show how to take a large pot and three seed potatoes — they suggest more than a half-dozen varieties that work well under these conditions — and come up with a meal or two's worth of spuds. The key, Diacono said, is growing them in a container. "In the U.K., where we both garden, potatoes are commonly grown out in the open, but they suffer from terrible blight problems and are often riddled with slug damage by the time they are harvested," he said. "In the book we advocate growing early potatoes in containers instead. The yield is nothing like as large, but the result is flawless, sweet, tender little potatoes early in the year. For the full effect, put the water on to boil before you start to dig them up. Wash, boil and eat. They will be the best potatoes you've ever eaten." Also doable, and with recipes to help make the most of them: carrots, green beans, beets and turnips. "We've covered the whole spectrum of the quickest edibles, from ultraquick sprouts through to the quickest varieties and techniques with more traditional vegetables," Leendertz said. "Lots of these — potatoes, courgettes/zucchini and carrots, for instance — are actually better when grown quick and harvested young, so you get the benefit of a fast turnover but also a far better vegetable than if you left them long and ate them big. By growing small, quick vegetables you get sweeter and more tender crops than you could ever find in the shops." A lot of vegetables, like carrots, are more tender and taste better when harvested young. Recycling breakdown It all started with a question, simple and innocent. I was researching an article on packaging materials, and came across multiple answers to one question. I remembered a trusted source of environmentally friendly practices, a local man named Ward Habriel. Habriel is a retired Environmental Educator and Certified Green Building Professional. In addition, Sean he's one of this space's most active readers and commenters, so I decided to run something by him via email that would surely result in a quick and easy answer. Or so I thought. Me: "Hi Ward, I have a quick question for you. Are the plastic bags inside cereal boxes recyclable?" Habriel: "Thanks for asking, but not a quick (or easy) answer." The answers I found leading up to my asking Habriel ranged from a definite "Yes" or "No" to the more vague "Check your local recycling company." Habriel confirmed these answers, and added other facts I wasn't aware of. All plastic is recyclable. All of it, Nos. 1 through 7. The roadblock to total plastics recycling euphoria is that no single plastics recycling company will take care of all plastics. "Most will specialize in beverage bottles or plastic grocery bags (for instance), as well as shrink-wrap from commercial operations," Habriel said in his email reply, adding that most of the profit in the recycling industry comes from reprocessing old plastics into a usable product. Yeah, but what about my original question? Can the plastic bags inside your cereal box be recycled? "Furthermore, regarding a cereal box (fibre board with a plastic bag liner)," Habriel wrote, "this will be rejected by most haulers when it goes through the sorting line as the plastic is a contaminant to the fibre board." Yeah, but the plastic. "If during disposal for recycling, you separate the bag from the box, most sorting lines will put the box in with other fibre board and discard the plastic," Habriel said. "There is also a difference in the bags. Some are actually a waxed paper product (not plastic), which can be recycled with 'other' paper. "Otherwise, the info you already got is accurate: 'Ask you local hauler.'" Swell, so what do I do now? I still place the plastic bag from my favorite cereal box (after separating the two, of course) in recycling. But it goes in there, ready to take on new life, with me wondering why life is so complicated. Consumers (I among them) become so dependent on things designed to be helpful and easy. The problem is, often what appears to be easy can actually cause more ambiguity and questions. "The practice of our way of shopping (in America) has the 'packaging' at the bottom of consideration," Habriel lamented. "That is partly due to how easy it has been to get rid of packaging materials, whether garbage or recyclables. We are a 'convenience' oriented society." Amen, Ward. Until next time, Happy Home Improving! Murphy Project Home The Fruit Trees Are Here! Take some home with you today. SATURDAYS CLASSES are at 10AM & 1PM: FRUIT TREE CARE & PRUNING Presented by Rico Montenegro, Certified Arborist UPCOMING CLASSES: GRAPE CARE & PRUNING of backyard grapes Saturday, February 2nd & February 16th at 11am BERRIES-CARE & PRUNING Cane berries to Strawberries, learn to grow them! Saturday, February 9th & February 23rd at 11am SEED STARTING BASICS –Let's get Growing! Sunday, February 17th and February 24th at 11am *Note: All classes are free, class size is limited, please call or email to reserve your seat. WYNTOUR GARDENS 365-2256 8026 Airport Road, Redding Located 1 mile south of the Airport (Next to Kents Mkt) Open Mon-Sat 8-5 & Sunday's 10-4 wyntourgardens.com Facebook inform@wyntourgardens.com