Grow Fruit: Gardens, Yards, Balconies, Roof Terraces

by Alan Buckingham

Overview

Grow Fruit is your one-stop, step-by-step reference for growing your own fruit, from tree fruits like apples and figs to soft fruits like strawberries and blueberries to tender fruits like citrus and avocados. Now refreshed with a bold new look, this guide has been updated to include more fruit varieties than any other book of its kind.

Grow Fruit features detailed growing instructions for more than 40 fruits and provides inspiration and advice at every stage, from planning and planting to pruning and picking and everything in-between. With its clear and easy-to-follow photographic design, troubleshooting tips, and year-long planner, Grow Fruit makes thriving results achievable, whether you are an experienced gardener looking to expand your horizons or a foodie seeking your own organic or obscure fruit varieties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781465444851
Publisher:	DK
Publication date:	02/02/2016
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	658,010
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Alan Buckingham is an author, editor, photographer, and gardener. He holds a plot on the Royal Paddocks Allotments near Hampton Court Palace in London, where he grows more food annually than his family can eat. His books include Grow Fruit, Grow Vegetables, The Kitchen Garden, and DK Eyewitness: Photography. His books often feature his own photographs.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

The Fruit Gardener 10

An introduction to growing your own fruit-in gardens, in pots and containers, and in greenhouses or hoophouses.

What fruit can I grow? 12

Growing fruit in small gardens 17

Traditional kitchen gardens 19

Large gardens and orchards 22

The fruit grower's year 24

Tree Fruit 28

How to choose, plant, and grow fruit trees, how to prune and train them successfully, and how to identify what's wrong

Apples 41

Pears 81

Plums 103

Cherries 121

Apricots 137

Peaches and nectarines 145

Quinces 158

Mulberries 162

Medlars 164

Figs 167

Soft Fruit 178

All you need to know to succeed with soft fruits, with advice on choosing, planting, routine care, pruning, and how to overcome common problems.

Strawberries 183

Raspberries 197

Blackberries and hybrid bramble fruits 209

Gooseberries 219

Red currants and white currants 231

Black currants 239

Blueberries 247

Cranberries and Iingonberries 258

Unusual berries 262

Grape Vines 264

How to grow vines outside and under cover. Information on choosing, planting, and how to keep vines healthy, well-pruned, and trouble-free.

Tender and Unusual Fruit 282

A guide to growing warm-climate fruit- packed with all the advice and information you need if you want to try growing unusual or experimental crops.

Citrus fruits 285

Melons 295

Kiwifruit 302

Cape gooseberries 305

Other tender and unusual fruit 308

Avocados

Bananas

Loguats

Mangos

Olives

Papayas

Passion fruit

Pawpaws

Pepinos

Persimmons

Pineapples

Pineapple guavas

Pomegranates

Prickly pears

Strawberry guavas

Tamarillos

Fruit Doctor 314

All the advice you need to deal with pests, diseases, and disorders. How to diagnose and treat the most common problems and avoid them in future.

What's wrong? 316

Healthy soil 318

Common mineral deficiencies 320

Diseases and disorders 322

Pests and parasites 332

Index 342

Acknowledgments 350

Fruit nurseries and suppliers 352

Editorial Reviews

"…a great primer to help get you started, no matter what type of space limitations you might face." – Pittsburgh-Post Gazette

"Here is an easy one stop reference for growing your own grapes, tree fruit such as cherries, plums, pears, figs and peaches." – Boston Globe

From the Publisher

Filled with colorful illustrations in true DK fashion, this is an attractive introduction to techniques to cultivate a rich variety of fruit. More than half of the book concentrates on grapes and three broad classes of fruit: tree fruit, soft fruit, and tender and exotic fruit. In each fruit section, Buckingham (Grow Vegetables) describes tersely the acquisition of stock, planting, pruning, training, and care. Many of the descriptions of varieties are too short; an inquisitive gardener will need to consult specific nursery catalogs or web sites for more information. Buckingham provides brief guidelines on becoming a fruit gardener and dealing with diseases and pests. There are seasonal instructions on care and feeding as well as some very basic solutions to problems (with more details in the "Fruit Doctor" chapter at the end of the book). The one-page list of fruit nurseries includes a mere 15 U.S. suppliers, and the lack of a bibliography is unfortunate. There's no mention of state extension services or master gardener programs. VERDICT This is a picturesque introduction to the temptations of growing fruit, but for a more serious and American (Buckingham is British-based) guide, see Mark Rieger's Introduction to Fruit Crops.—Edward J. Valauskas, Chicago Botanic Garden

Library Journal