🍋 Lemon
Citrus × limon
Sunshine you can squeeze.
Sun
Full sun, 8+ hrs
Days to harvest
3–5 years from grafted tree
Spacing
10–15 feet apart
Soil pH
6.0–7.0
How to grow
'Meyer' is the home-gardener favorite — sweeter, more cold-tolerant, and less thorny than true lemons. Buy certified disease-free stock and plant high in blazing sun. Lemons are heavy feeders, so a regular citrus nutrition schedule (per your extension service's guidance) keeps them productive.
Water & feeding
Deep, consistent watering; irregular water means thick rinds and dry fruit.
Common problems
- Citrus greening (HLB)
- Citrus canker
- Leafminer on new flush
Harvest
Pick when fully yellow and fragrant; Meyer lemons turn deep gold and give slightly when ripe.
Nerdy fact: The Meyer lemon isn't a true lemon — it's a lemon-orange hybrid, probably a natural cross discovered in China. You've been squeezing a hybrid this whole time.