One New Jerseyan’s lemon-tree journey.

There’s a reason why radio and podcast advertisers pay more for “live reads” — those advertisements where the show hosts read the ad copy themselves and put their own twist on it. For all the bells and whistles in those highly produced spots that glut commercial breaks, listeners tend to tune them out. That’s less often the case with a live read, as our own experience on National Review’s The Editors attests:

If you’re like Jeff (above), you’ve probably heard Rich talk about our friends at FastGrowingTrees.com. You’ve probably also heard about how I, along with the incomparable Sarah Schutte, have a couple of FGT Meyer lemon trees that we enjoy. For those of you who are curious about my lemon-tree saga and how you, too, can enjoy the literal fruits of such labors, a little background may be in order.

FGT advertises on a range of platforms, including Commentary magazine’s signature podcast, where I served as a co-host before joining NR in 2023. In the summer of 2022, some of us were offered the opportunity to try out some trees for ourselves — gratis, of course — only so that we could provide a testimonial of our experience with the product. Since most of the show’s hosts lived in Manhattan apartments, the spoils fell into my lap.

Now, I’m no freeloader. I’m certainly not above taking advantage of perks, but I wasn’t about to accept FGT’s beneficence without kicking something back. So, along with the handful of arborvitaes we were sent as free trial trees, we purchased a few other things from the website, including two Meyer lemons about two to three feet in height.

To be clear, my trees look nothing at all like the properly manicured specimens that grace FGT’s website — not at the time of purchase and certainly not now. Truth be told, they’re not the prettiest things to look at. But that’s not why I got them in the first place. These trees have one purpose: to fire off as many lemons in as rapid a clip as possible so I can consume them.

In shockingly short order, that’s what happened. Within the second year of planting, we were generating fruit. For the most part, the baby lemons that sprouted did not survive to maturity. They grew almost to the point of viability but would wither and fall off, taking my culinary plans with them. But a handful of those second-year lemons lived. And by the third year, we were producing sizable lemons in appreciable quantity:

Now, my experience may not be reflective of yours. To answer Jeff’s questions, our trees are potted — as citrus trees must be if they’re to make their home in northern New Jersey. Between October and May, they live behind a large window with a northern exposure. Despite the lighting, our trees reliably shed their leaves during the winter months. Even though they don’t look especially attractive, the trees seem inclined to devote their energies to developing their fruit:

Ultimately, the trees rededicate themselves to leaf production when they migrate outdoors. By midsummer, they’re bushy again.

Now, I have heard that lemon trees can be finicky. They can attract aphids, spider mites, fruit flies, and other pests that must be warded off with pretreatment. That’s not been my experience, but that might be due simply to the climate. And while both trees require regular watering, I’ve never found them to be particularly needy. Dumping a pitcher — about two quarts — into each of them once a week in the winter seems to do the trick. During the outdoor months, the atmosphere will typically do the job for you, but you might need to perform supplementary watering during dry spells.

That’s it! These things are pretty easy to manage and maintain. And if you like Meyer lemons, they’re a real treat. There is a special taste to the Meyer — sweeter and less bitter. I’ve rarely picked more than three seeds out of my mature lemons, too. And zesting the skin infuses whatever you make with a delightful lemony essence. But you’re not going to enjoy a huge haul — not in the early years, anyway. You’ll have to figure out how to make the most of a handful of lemons.

I found that I get most mileage out of them by making a custard:

Hope that helps, Jeff, and anyone else who is inexplicably interested in our family’s lemon journey. This post has not been paid for by Fast Growing Trees, but it should have been. Next time I answer readers’ questions, I’ll consult with our marketing department first.