The Fruit Tree Handbook
Review
You'll need an extra season to make best use of all the advice contained in this comprehensive, practical book. It will help you to choose your fruit trees and rootstocks, situate your orchard, prune your trees and keep them healthy. It is bursting with well-illustrated guidance, generously given from someone who knows orchards and cares about the wildlife that they can support. --Sue Clifford & Angela King - Common Ground
The Fruit Tree Handbook is a really well-organised, approachable yet thorough guide to sourcing, planting and caring for fruit trees. It's a must for anyone considering anything from a couple of trees to an orchard. --Mark Diacono - River Cottage Head Gardener
At last! A book about growing fruit with an organic approach, written for British conditions and with home fruit growers rather than professionals in mind. To my knowledge it s the first book that ticks all three boxes but, just as important, it s very good. --Patrick Whitefield - Permaculture Magazine
Product Description
The Fruit Tree Handbook is a clear, practical guide for both amateur and expert. It explains all you need to know in order to grow delicious fruit, from designing your orchard and planting your trees to harvesting your produce.
Apples, pears, plums, cherries, apricots, peaches and nectarines, as well as less common fruits such as mulberries, medlars and figs, are covered in detail, with recommended varieties of each.
Fruit tree expert Ben Pike describes all the pest and disease problems you may encounter and advises on how to deal with them. He explains about choosing rootstocks and suitable varieties for your needs, and illuminates the mysteries of pruning with step-¬by-step instructions and detailed diagrams. The book features beautiful colour pictures throughout.
The Fruit Tree Handbook conveys a deep respect for the natural world, showing how to cultivate healthy trees through good management, and also includes chapters on restoring an old orchard and setting up a community orchard.
Whether you are planting one or two trees in your garden or 50 trees in a field; or whether you need help with pruning your apple tree or advice on looking after a victoria plum tree, this book provides the expert guidance you need and you can look forward to being rewarded with basketfuls of luscious fruit at harvest time.
Table of contents
Introduction PART ONE: Preparation, planning and planting 1 The site of your orchard 2 Rootstocks 3 Pollination, flowering and fruit development 4 Choosing fruit trees 5 Planning your orchard 6 Buying and planting trees PART TWO: Fruit tree management 7 Caring for your trees 8 Pruning fruit trees 9 Problems of fruit trees PART THREE: The fruits 10 Apples 11 Pears 12 Plums 13 Cherries 14 Peaches and nectarines 15 Apricots 16 Other fruits PART FOUR: Traditional orchards 17 Restoring a neglected orchard 18 Community orchards Glossary Appendices Resources
