I saw an advert in a recent Radio Times for lemons, oranges and limes. The lemon trees are four years old and the limes trees are expected to produce full size fruit within 10 months. This sounds a bit optomistic to me. (The lemon is 20 quid, the lime is £30.) There's not a lot of detail other than these are ideal for UK gardens.
Hmm. I'm kinda sceptical about this. I would probably grow them in our little spare room that used to be a porch. (No longer needed as a porch.) I'd planned to use that space as a kind of indoor greenhouse. It's a nice sunny room (in Scotland, ha ha) with a big window for the room's size.
What do you think? Is growing citrus trees in a British garden really feasible or is this pie in the sky and OK only if you live in Kent or something?
Thanks in advance if you can help.
Growing citrus in the UK
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Westi
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It is possible Stravaig, but does come with some rules like winter protection above certain degrees, feeding, watering & noting root growth so know when to pot on. There is a world wide site that is "Growing Citrus in Containers' which might be worth a look, keeping in mind it is world wide but they will direct to any areas that have similar weather patterns etc.
Westi
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Stravaig
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Thanks, Westi,
I also found some good advice on the RHS site.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/citrus/grow-your-own
Anyway, as you say, they take a bit of looking after, often including moving them indoors in bad weather. That, plus Mr Stravaig said that 50cm diamenter pots weren't very feasible in the space. I hadn't realised they'd take up so much room.
I've pretty much given up on the idea now.
Anyway, I get through at least one lime a day for cooking, etc, and for adding to drinking water, The local supermarket sells them no problem. So, really, there was no need to grow the usual citrus.
That said, I was looking around Plants4Presents and they have mukrut lime plants. Now you're talking! The lime leaves are used in many Thai dishes. I've ordered that instead, plus a 'red lime' plant. Never heard of such a thing before but they look interesting and it might be nice as an occasional garnish. So, that's as far as I'm going with citrus for now. Maybe if we ever get a greenhouse...
I also found some good advice on the RHS site.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/citrus/grow-your-own
Anyway, as you say, they take a bit of looking after, often including moving them indoors in bad weather. That, plus Mr Stravaig said that 50cm diamenter pots weren't very feasible in the space. I hadn't realised they'd take up so much room.
I've pretty much given up on the idea now.Anyway, I get through at least one lime a day for cooking, etc, and for adding to drinking water, The local supermarket sells them no problem. So, really, there was no need to grow the usual citrus.
That said, I was looking around Plants4Presents and they have mukrut lime plants. Now you're talking! The lime leaves are used in many Thai dishes. I've ordered that instead, plus a 'red lime' plant. Never heard of such a thing before but they look interesting and it might be nice as an occasional garnish. So, that's as far as I'm going with citrus for now. Maybe if we ever get a greenhouse...
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Stravaig
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The plants have just arrived as arranged. I'm delighted with them. 
They were very well packaged. The plants looked very healthy and well looked after. Each came with an information page about how to care for them.
The red lime plant even had five fruit ready for picking! They ranged in size from about a golf ball to about easy peeler size. I hope we like them. LOL Well, whatever, they look nice and I read somewhere that all citrus leaves are edible. Must check that out before risking poisoning anyone, myself included.
They were very well packaged. The plants looked very healthy and well looked after. Each came with an information page about how to care for them. The red lime plant even had five fruit ready for picking! They ranged in size from about a golf ball to about easy peeler size. I hope we like them. LOL Well, whatever, they look nice and I read somewhere that all citrus leaves are edible. Must check that out before risking poisoning anyone, myself included.