Eat what you SOW

OUR GUIDE TO PLANTING A CITRUS TREE AT HOME

- By Lucy Lindfield; homestolove.com.au

A fruit synonymous with school lunch boxes and quick, easy snacks, the humble mandarin finds its way into many households nationwide. While you'll usually find these bright orange citrus fruits readily available in supermarkets between April and October, a mandarin tree can be grown easily from seed. However, a seed-grown tree can take several years to be large and mature enough to produce fruit, so you must be patient! If you have the time to grow from seed, these steps will help you achieve your fruitful dreams.

1 SAVE THE SEED

Keep a few seeds from a large, juicy mandarin. Gently wash the seed clean, allow it to dry on a paper towel and then sow the seed or store it. Fresh seed is more viable (that is more likely to grow) than older seed. Seeds are best planted in spring or early autumn.

2 SOW THE MANDARIN SEED