Without water your garden will NOT survive your extended break down at the beach house. While we are fortunate to live in a country where we can grow things all year round, that blessing does not extend to rainfall and there’s little chance the big guy upstairs will fix things when you’re too busy.

The fallback option – your next-door neighbour – should only ever be that, because frequent holidays and favours will soon harshly test that relationship. It’s time to take some responsibility and get organised.

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With more than 3000 varieties, there is one for everyone and the tomato you fall in love with could as easily be red and round, as it could be purple and brain-shaped.

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The wicking bed, or self-watering garden, is not that mirage of water in the desert. Rather, it is one of the most user-friendly growing infrastructures for all the lifestyle, time-poor, lazy gardeners out there.

Using the age-old idea of capillary action, water in a reservoir below is drawn up and into the soil, to be used by the plants as required. Ever dipped a tissue in a glass of water and watched the moisture climb up the fibres, defying gravity? A wicking bed works in the same way.

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Want to make an easy entrance into the new season? Then seedlings are the way, but you need to know how to treat them right to lessen the transplant stress.

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It’s hard to ignore the colours of citrus during winter. The long fruiting run - that commences way back at the peak of summer (with a burst of white flowers and citrus scents) - is one of the most drawn out gardening processes. In fact it is so long winded that it’s almost forgotten about…. until the bright colours burst through the winter gloom.  

Anyone without a lemon tree notices this phenomena more than most. For one, you should  immediately commit it to the memory map of where to find free food (however a door knock for permission is preferable). But it’s also that seasonal reminder of the joy you should be experiencing, if only you had planted that tree when you intended.

Somewhere along the way however you’ve had heartache, maybe even heartbreak, and definitely a deal of uncertainty at what you’re really looking for in a lemon tree. But now - at the peak of fruiting - we’re actually not far off the best time for planting a tree too and ensuring you don’t miss out again next season. Even those that hold memory like water, won’t have time to disassociate; lemons hold so well on the tree, there will still be a bunch of reminders dangling in front of you come spring.

So what are the lemon options? Lemons, just ain’t lemons. Let’s look at the differences in terms of their juice, skin, tree characteristics, along with the climates they grown in best.

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