I’m starting a new series called “Five Things Friday.” Each Friday, I’ll share links to five articles all curated around a theme. This week, all of the links will be related citrus trees. Growing them. Eating their fruit. The pests that bother them. Etc.

While I have your attention, I want to invite you to send in your own themed lists. Here’s the rules: (1) the list must revolve around some sort of container gardening theme, (2) each link must be to a different website, and (3) the list must contain one link to an article on LOTB. Sound like fun? Shoot me an email with your Five Things.

1. How to Grow Citrus Trees in Containers - I have had several citrus trees, including blood oranges and tangerines. Though one of the professors that taught my master gardener class would disagree, they make great container plants. Here’s how to grow a little bit ‘o sunshine on your balcony or patio.
2. Citrus-Pomegranate Quinoa Salad – One thing I like about this recipe is that it is healthy while still delicious. It’s also nice that it only calls for one orange, one lemon, and one lime. When you only have room for one tree of each variety, you might not have a ton of fruit all at once, so I’m always on the lookout for recipes that call for a small amount of the fruits and vegetables I like growing. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, “quinoa” is pronounced “keen-wah.”
3. Lemon Chex Buddies – Much to my mom’s dismay, my favorite type of dessert usually involves lemons not chocolate, though I think they combine together fantastically. This is a sweet-sour take on chex party mix. Yum!
4. Grow Citrus Trees as Houseplants – I didn’t know this was possible, but the folks at Fourwinds Growers say it is. Check it out if you want to have an indoor citrus tree.
5. Citrus Pests - In this article, Arizona master gardeners introduce you to the pests you are most likely to encounter on your citrus tree. YUCK! But important to know about so you can take appropriate measures.

When a co-worker mentioned that my friend Brenda at Thompson’s Building Materials in Fontana, CA had made some pallet gardens, I rushed (literally!) over to take a look. Don’t let Thompson’s name fool you into thinking they don’t have fantastic plants and pottery (and really awesome built in BBQs if you have the space for one). Because they do! I bought a kumquat while I was there. If you’re in Southern California, you should go check them out. The pallet gardens are hanging near the design center.

By the way, Brenda attached the pallet gardens to the wall using brackets. She said there has been no sign of damage to the wall behind the pallets, probably because she used succulents which need pretty minimal amounts of water. She did mention that since she used pallets with wide openings between the slats that when it is time to replant them, she’s going to use chicken wire to help hold the soil in better.

Oh, one last tip I learned from Brenda. If you have pallets that are colors you don’t want, you can stain them. That’s what Brenda did. She has quite a few on the wall and she wanted them to match, so they’re all stained the same.

[Available for pre-order on Amazon]

This post has been rumbling around in my head for quite some time. Citrus trees are among container gardeners’ favorite victims fruit trees, so I don’t know why it has taken me so long to put my thoughts down in a blog post. I have had several citrus trees, including blood oranges and tangerines. Though one of the professors that taught my master gardener class would disagree, they make great container plants. Here’s how to grow a little bit ‘o sunshine on your balcony or patio…

Suitably Small Varieties for Container Gardening

Like all trees you plan to grow in a pot, you should always, always, always select either a natural dwarf or a tree growing on dwarf rootstock. According to Sunset’s Western Garden Book of Edibles dwarf citrus trees are usually grafted on to one of two kinds of root stock. If given a large enough pot or grown in the ground, trifolate orange (Poncirus trifolate) will produce a 10 foot tree in 15 years, while ‘Flying Dragon’ trifolate orange produces an even shorter 7 foot tree in that time period. Either rootstock variety will sufficiently stunt the growth of your tree to make it happy to grow in a container.

Kumquats

Kumquats produce  fruit that look like tiny, oblong oranges. They are usually tart, and the fruit is eaten skin and all. You don’t need to select a variety growing on dwarf rootstock because these citrus trees are naturally short. Kumquats do best in areas with warm summers and chilly fall/winter nights. They’re hardy down to 20F if the pot is protected. Kumquats can usually be brought indoors in cold winter climates and still produce a good harvest.

• ‘Fukushu’ produces sweeter-than-normal fruit and the tree is thornless
• ‘Meiwa’ is the sweetest, and least-seedy variety of kumquat. Trees are nearly thornless.
• ‘Tavares Limequat’ is a cross between a kumquat and a Mexican lime. The tree is attractive and compact (less than 6 feet tall at maturity)

Lemons

Lemons are a great choice in areas with summers that aren’t hot enough for other types of citrus. They especially enjoy coastal areas, and will produce fruit year round near the beach.

• ‘Improved Meyer’ is the best variety for container gardeners. It is a disease-free version of regular ‘Meyer’ lemons (which cannot be sold in some states, due to the virus the trees carry). The fruit is sweeter with thinner skins thanks to the fact that is actually a lemon-orange hybrid. Can be brought indoors during the winter without sacrificing fruit production.
• ‘Sungold’ and ‘Variegated Pink’ both have green and yellow variegated leaves.

Today I’m thrilled to introduce a series of posts written by Patricia Youngquist AKA The Last Leaf Gardener.  This is her second post in the series on winterizing. Be sure to check out her introduction to winterizing, and Patricia’s thoughts on building cold frames. This is Patricia’s third and final post in the series. Here she talks about how to wrap plants bubble wrap and burlap (sounds nice and cozy, doesn’t it?!).

After two years of “cold-frame living” my plants were established enough to survive without a winter home; however, I did mulch them very well, then wrapped every container twice in bubble-wrap and surrounded this with a strong burlap secured tightly with jute.

New York City got a lot of snow that season, as evidenced in the image below.

But all the things I grow survived and I was once again able to enjoy everything about them this past Spring, Summer and Fall as you might surmise from the following images.

And, now, winter is once again upon us, most of my things are beginning to look bare (see the top photo posted above the beginning of this post). Soon all my trees, shrubs, plants, and herbs will be put to bed for a winter’s nap through my wrapping winterizing method.

Since, during the growing seasons, I water everything by hand (sometimes it is three times a day depending on heat wave situations in summer) the time that my plants are sleeping gives me time to work on other endeavors. This year I will be busy at work creating movies about what I grow, and my cast of characters will be my various vines, shrubs and flowers.

Last year I produced my first garden themed movie, “The Kiwi Speaks! Fifteen Minutes of Fame . . .  almost”, which can be seen on Vimeo @ http://bit.ly/teFgCh  1010and so this year, I will be working on the sequel to that movie.

 * * * * *

If you’d like to see more pictures of Patricia’s garden, please visit her at www.thelastleafgardener.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook or Twitter .

Today I’m thrilled to introduce a series of posts written by Patricia Youngquist AKA The Last Leaf Gardener.  This is her second post in the series on winterizing. Be sure to check out her introduction to winterizing, and stay tuned for her post on how to wrap your plants. And now, I’ll step aside and let Patricia tell you about cold frames…

For a couple of the past winters, I protected my less hardy plants, shrubs and herbs from harsh elements by constructing a cold frame. I had learned my winterizing lesson the hard way, when some years ago, I bought my “less hardy” perennials inside my studio apartment only to have them die from shock and the dryness of my place. The dryness is caused by steam-heat – a bane of existence to many New York City dwellers. These conditions did not make a good atmosphere in making a winter home for the less hardy things that I love to grow and the things that remained outside during that year were not too happy either.

In any event, the experience of having my plants and herbs die is behind me, thanks to my having used a cold frame. A cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure usually built low to the ground and used to protect plants, herbs, and small shrubs from cold weather. The transparent top of a cold frame admits sunlight and so the structure functions as a miniature greenhouse. It costs nothing to use because it relies solely on the warmth of the sun.

Cold frames are generally found in rural home gardens, but because I live in Manhattan, I have become quite creative in making use of space. I saw no obstacle in having a cold frame constructed to use during the winter months that could be taken down and stored during spring, summer and fall. Normally a cold frame is constructed with old glass windows and wood, but I used Plexiglas, and 4x4s for the corner posts as well as  2x4s for the additional framing. I chose these materials so that I could take the cold frame apart and store it  – without fear of it breaking – in my closet during the non-winter months. The minimum thickness needed for Plexiglas used in this manner is 1/2”.  I used five pieces (4 sides to form a square, and one for the top that functioned as a lid). When determining the height of the sheets of Plexiglas, I had to allow for several inches of empty space above and around each plant for air circulation, so in my case my cold frame looked like a mini-greenhouse.

Usually a cold frame functions optimally when it is butted up against a home, garage, or solid fence, but with roof-extension gardens these options are usually not available. The first year I chose the part of my roof-extension that received the most sunlight, and I recommend anyone taking on this mission find the sunniest spot on their outdoor space to place a cold frame. Extra humidity can be provided by placing trays – that are similar to those that are used in a darkroom as developing trays for photographic prints - filled with bark chips or mulch and put underneath the plants.

Additionally, I also needed to make sure I allowed for the lid to be able to be left open  – at least a few inches – so that the air could circulate from time to time. (I used a bamboo pole on days I wanted to keep the frame open). I made my plant’s winter home festive by adding and placing little window boxes of hearty plants alongside the outer edges of it.

My plants and herbs did well in terms of warmth that first “cold-frame” year, but the second year I put the structure closer to the walls (as seen below) of my apartment to protect the plants, herbs and shrubs from wind-damage, and in addition to the lights and window boxes, I draped it in garland for the holiday season (as seen below). The SODAS sign is an object I had in my garden from the late 1990s until this past spring and I am merely pointing it out to you for a sense of scale.

 * * * * *

If you’d like to see more pictures of Patricia’s garden, please visit her at www.thelastleafgardener.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook or Twitter .

Today I’m thrilled to introduce a series of posts written by Patricia Youngquist AKA The Last Leaf Gardener.  Patricia gardens on a roof extension in the Upper Westside of Manhattan in New York City, a much different climate than my balcony in Southern California! Patricia knows a thing or two about protecting her plants from New York’s cold winters, and I really appreciate her willingness to share her ideas with the rest of us. First up, is Patricia’s introduction to her garden, which will be followed by posts about building cold frames and wrapping plants.

Like Fern, my garden is a container garden, and since it is on a roof extension, I also experience “life on a balcony”! However, unlike Fern — because, I live in the northeastern portion of the United States — I have to contend with the “W’ word, and prepare the things I grow to “weather the storm” of a long winter season. The garden I have is comprised of 80 plus things including herbs, vines, flowers, plants, grasses, shrubs and trees — all grown in containers.

The picture at the top of this blog entry is an “aerial view” of what it looked like this afternoon after Juan V and I put on the finishing touches of my Christmas decorations. However, the  ”overhead lights” (shape of an “X”) that you see above my garden are a fairly new addition (August 2011), so they have not experienced a winter in NYC, although, we had a mini snow storm the last Saturday in October (2011) which the things I grow in my garden, and the lights strung above it, survived.

The red and green balls (lower left hand corner of the image) are my holiday decorations made from recycled bleach bottles and they are hung on my Corylus avellana (Contorted Hazel Nut). It has been a fairly and almost unseasonably warm December — in fact my Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium), Echinacea, and roses (from three different shrubs) are still blooming!

Still the “W” word officially begins on December 21st, and last year I winterized my urban garden on December the 11th, so, I’ve already waited four days longer than last year, and plan to bite the winterizing-bullet, and do this years winterizing on December 27th unless Mother Nature slams us with bone chilling weather.

 * * * * *

If you’d like to see more pictures of Patricia’s garden, please visit her at www.thelastleafgardener.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook or Twitter .

Hey guys! Gavin from UZPlanters.com contacted me and shared a discount code that LOTB readers can use to get 10% off any of the containers they sell. Simply type in LOTBPlanters at checkout.

I noticed that they sell many of the products I’ve featured here on Life on the Balcony, such as Woolly Pockets and Lechuza planters.

NOTE: I don’t have any affiliation with UZ Planters and receive no benefit if you decide to order from them.

While taking a walk around the Queen Village Neighborhood of Philadelphia I spotted this super gorgeous windowbox jam packed with interesting foliage plants perfect for fall. Black Mondo Grass and ornamental cabbages? Yes, please!

If you want to recreate this look, here’s a container plan and plant list:

1. Black Mondo Grass
2. Fern
3. Ornamental cabbage
4. Wire vine

You may have to really squeeze the plants in, but the strappy leaves of the ferns and mondo grass look best when they comingle with nearby plants. I’ve found that it’s easiest to start from back to front, putting in the larger plants first, and then following with smaller plants.