Citrus are surprisingly easy to grow in tubs or pots, really only demanding adequate sun and sufficient water with supplementary feeding at regular intervals. For this small amount of effort, your citrus plant will reward you with beautiful dark, glossy leaves, fragrant blossoms and edible fruit.

Try planting your tree in a large glossy ceramic pot to complement the stunning dark green foliage which will, in time, be decorated all over with baubles of colourful fruit. As your potted plant is as much about ornamentation as it is culinary delight, investment in the most attractive pot you can afford seems a sensible idea. You can take your established plant with you if you ever have to move house - and just think of all the money you will save on lemons.. or oranges... or whichever variety took your fancy.

Citrus plants like a warm spot in full sun. Be careful of radiant heat from walls or fencing as this can burn leaves, but in general: citrus likes it hot. Rather than just an occasional spritz of water, your citrus will thank you for a good long drink when needed.

Lemons have long been favoured for their pungent aroma and cleansing medicinal properties. Mediterranean societies have used lemons for centuries within cooking, preserved, in perfumery and in their gardens.

Beyonce brought the not-so-humble lemon back to prominence in the public eye when she famously undertook the Lemonade Diet, or Master Cleanse; a regime requiring the dieter to mix maple syrup and freshly squeezed lemon juice with a dash of cayenne pepper as their only means of sustenance.

While extreme diets always have both advocates and detractors, there is little disagreement that inclusion of lemons in the diet is good move for prolonged health and vitality. Some prefer the squeeze of lemon in a morning glass of water or in place of salad dressing for greens with a little more bite, while others squeeze whole fruits and raw vegetables to create turbo-charged juiced packed with vitamins.

Lemons and sugar are great friends

Unfortunately for those drawn to the health benefits of the lemon, the tart citrus flavor is just made to consort with sugar in its varying forms: lemon plus honey, lemon in icing, lemon and sugar in tea, lemon gelato, lemon cheescake ... um yeah, it gets along quite nicely with saturated fats also.

You need to find yourself a good Southern Italian recipe book or spend some dvd time with NIgella (below) to build up your armory of winning dishes, but what I can reveal to you now is the multi-purpose nature of almost all citrus fruits. They can be peeled, chopped, squeezed, dried, preserved and mixed with sugar and/or alcohol (my personal favourite) or salt. You can usually get nutritional or flavour value from the leaves and it's worth noting the importance of the kaffir lime leaf in Indian cooking.

Winning combinations:

• lemons and sugar
• lemons and salt
• lemons and seafood
• lime leaves in curry
• fish sauce, citrus and sugar in Asian dressings

The right tools for the job

A few citrus-related techniques require easily procured implements which will make your life infinitely easier:

• zester - scrapes across the outside of the fruit to peel off shavings of the flavour-packed rind
• fine grater - pretty much what it sounds like, enables a fine grating of rind which can then be added to cooking (such as in cakes)
• juicer - there's the 'manual labour' kind in which the fruit is sliced in half and twisted upon a slotted point and then there's the heinously lazy version which costs about 10x as much but which only requires you to press a button and then clean up at the end. It's up to you; either way, you end up with juice.

In addition to being healthy and tasty, citrus plants are highly decorative and beautifully scented.

The fruit has a distinctive aroma of its own and the peel when dried and used in cooking will permeate the house with heady spice infused (often cinnamon is used) goodness. Sticking your nose into a bag of dried fruits should give you some idea, but basically - citrus smells like Christmas when cooked.

Citrus oils are extracted commercially and made available for use in oil-burners. To scent a home, a cheaper alternative would be to grab a few leaves off the tree and place in a simmering saucepan of water. It is also possible to extract the oil yourself through a process of maceration.

In the pot, the blossoms produced by citrus plants will knock your guests over with the most beautiful aroma. Glamazons like roses get all the attention, but citrus blossom is a heady, sweet and delicious scent that really doesn't get its due. Citrus blossom as well as oils are used extensively in perfumery.

WIth burgeoning, luscious citrus plants out on the patio there is no need to purchase flowers for table decoration: simply pop outside and grab a few sprigs with leaves and some with ripe fruit still attached and you instantly have the makings of a stunning centrepiece.