Edible Yards

My love for margaritas and key lime pie inspired me to grow limes. The key lime or Mexican lime (also known as the bartender’s lime) is easy to grow here in Austin and is especially easy to grow in containers. Like most citrus, it is very sensitive to frost so will need protection in the winter. You can move the pot to a protected area or you can cover the tree with a heavy blanket (though a blanket might not work during a particularly hard freeze.) One of the cool things about this tree is that it is often grown on its own roots (meaning it was not grafted onto a different rootstock) so if the tree freezes back, it will re-sprout from the base and produce key limes again.

To get started, we purchased 5-gallon lime trees and potted them  up into 15- or 20-gallon plastic containers.  Always be sure to give your tree roots enough room in the pot – it’s a good idea to re-pot your tree into larger containers every few years, if possible. We use rose magic soil from the Natural Gardener as  a potting mix for the limes. Of course, there are many other fabulous potting mixes that will work for container citrus. Once the tree is potted up into an appropriate container, you should mulch the container to help with moisture retention. Also, container trees need more nutrients since so much is leached out during watering. We sprinkle about 1/2 cup of Dr. Earth’s Fruit Tree Fertilizer on top of the soil in the pot every few weeks. There are several liquid fertilizers that would help your tree thrive as well such as fish/seaweed solutions or compost tea.

Key Lime Tree: Potted Up and Watered In

Mulched, Potted Key Lime

Lime Blossom