{"id":12102,"date":"2018-03-25T16:50:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T16:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coopsy.co.uk\/thenews\/?p=12102"},"modified":"2019-02-15T10:22:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T10:22:52","slug":"greenfingers-spring-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenfingers – Spring 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image<\/a>
Orange citrus growing happily in a greenhouse in the coldest February weather<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Greenfingers \u2013 Spring 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In last summer\u2019s edition I described my new compact urban greenhouse and my hopes and expectations for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

During August and September I was absolutely delighted as my lime citrus tree grew, flowered and fruited.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, just as I thought I\u2019d found the perfect solution to all my gardening needs, disaster stuck.<\/span><\/p>\n

My treasured plant\u2019s leaves suddenly started to fall off! Was it me, or the greenhouse?<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the fault was mine because just as autumn descended, I placed the poor thing on a heated seed tray and gave it an overdose of water laced with fertiliser. Either way it went from being an extremely happy plant to one at death\u2019s door.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the winter I brought it indoors in order to keep it warm as citrus aren\u2019t supposed to enjoy temperatures below 5 c yet it still went from being poorly to desperately ill.<\/span><\/p>\n

I kept it in my basement kitchen which is a little gloomy and as it became clear it was unlikely to survive until spring I boosted the light level with a 250 watt CFL lamp for a couple of hours each day.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Citrus in bloom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whilst this undoubtedly helped it didn\u2019t result in any new growth and the chap in the hydroponics shop recommended using far greater wattages such as 600 watt bulbs and higher.<\/span><\/p>\n

This entails using a great deal of electricity and unless it results in a cash crop it is hard to justify, particularly with lemons costing around 40 p in supermarkets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course just as it was returned to the greenhouse outside the cold snap came with its sub-zero temperatures and snow, so I quickly bought it back indoors again, and in desperation I placed it upstairs in a west facing bay window.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0At last success, as after only a week of some direct sunlight the first new shoots are showing through at long last.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
West Sussex in winter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The image is of citrus in flower, happy in a Sussex countryside garden greenhouse and totally oblivious to February\u2019s cold weather outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

This underlines the point that if the conditions are right citrus trees will flower and fruit all year around and its heady scent of Neroli is wonderfully intoxicating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Something is magical about a plant that not only survives the seasons yet thrives as well, growing once again as the spring sunshine strengthens with every passing day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenfingers – Spring 2018<\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By William Mills<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gardening"],"yoast_head":"\nGreenfingers - Spring 2018<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greenfingers - Spring 2018 is the latest edition in this popular series about house plants in the urban home and here looks at how citrus have coped with winter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Greenfingers - Spring 2018\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greenfingers - Spring 2018 is the latest edition in this popular series about house plants in the urban home and here looks at how citrus have coped with winter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"THE NEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-25T16:50:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-15T10:22:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1171\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"748\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"William Mills\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"William Mills\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"William Mills\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/013ea665f4864956ac2b364151d34c4f\"},\"headline\":\"Greenfingers – Spring 2018\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-25T16:50:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-15T10:22:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":444,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Gardening\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/\",\"name\":\"Greenfingers - Spring 2018\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-25T16:50:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-15T10:22:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/013ea665f4864956ac2b364151d34c4f\"},\"description\":\"Greenfingers - Spring 2018 is the latest edition in this popular series about house plants in the urban home and here looks at how citrus have coped with winter\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg\",\"width\":1171,\"height\":748,\"caption\":\"Orange citrus growing happily in a greenhouse in the coldest February weather\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/gardening\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/greenfingers-spring-2018\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Greenfingers – Spring 2018\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"THE NEWS\",\"description\":\"Brighton UK based online news. the-news.uk brings news stories\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/013ea665f4864956ac2b364151d34c4f\",\"name\":\"William Mills\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2ac3a632040f61a90eaa279e582db5e45e84b260e535da56ffc5e88929037cc1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2ac3a632040f61a90eaa279e582db5e45e84b260e535da56ffc5e88929037cc1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2ac3a632040f61a90eaa279e582db5e45e84b260e535da56ffc5e88929037cc1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"William Mills\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-news.uk\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/william-mills\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Greenfingers - Spring 2018","description":"Greenfingers - Spring 2018 is the latest edition in this popular series about house plants in the urban home and here looks at how citrus have coped with winter","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Greenfingers - Spring 2018","og_description":"Greenfingers - Spring 2018 is the latest edition in this popular series about house plants in the urban home and here looks at how citrus have coped with winter","og_url":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/","og_site_name":"THE NEWS","article_published_time":"2018-03-25T16:50:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-15T10:22:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1171,"height":748,"url":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"William Mills","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"William Mills","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/"},"author":{"name":"William Mills","@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/013ea665f4864956ac2b364151d34c4f"},"headline":"Greenfingers – Spring 2018","datePublished":"2018-03-25T16:50:13+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-15T10:22:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/"},"wordCount":444,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg","articleSection":["Gardening"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/","url":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/","name":"Greenfingers - Spring 2018","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg","datePublished":"2018-03-25T16:50:13+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-15T10:22:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/013ea665f4864956ac2b364151d34c4f"},"description":"Greenfingers - Spring 2018 is the latest edition in this popular series about house plants in the urban home and here looks at how citrus have coped with winter","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg","width":1171,"height":748,"caption":"Orange citrus growing happily in a greenhouse in the coldest February weather"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/gardening\/2018\/03\/greenfingers-spring-2018\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Greenfingers – Spring 2018"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/","name":"THE NEWS","description":"Brighton UK based online news. the-news.uk brings news stories","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/013ea665f4864956ac2b364151d34c4f","name":"William Mills","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ac3a632040f61a90eaa279e582db5e45e84b260e535da56ffc5e88929037cc1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ac3a632040f61a90eaa279e582db5e45e84b260e535da56ffc5e88929037cc1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ac3a632040f61a90eaa279e582db5e45e84b260e535da56ffc5e88929037cc1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"William Mills"},"url":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/author\/william-mills\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Greenhouse-citrus-3.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12102"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12109,"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102\/revisions\/12109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-news.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}