The Fruit Gardener's Bible: A Complete Guide to Growing Fruits and Nuts in the Home Garden

by Lewis Hill, Leonard Perry

Sweeten the growing season with this comprehensive guide to incorporating productive fruiting plants into the garden landscape.

Enjoy bushels of crispy apples and baskets of juicy blueberries from your own backyard. Authors Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry provide everything you need to know to successfully grow delicious organic fruit at home, from choosing the best varieties for your area to planting, pruning, and harvesting a bountiful crop. With tips on cultivating strawberries, raspberries, grapes, pears, peaches, and more, this essential reference guide will inspire year after year of abundantly fruitful gardening.

Learn the best ways to Strawberries Raspberries and Blackberries Blueberries Ribes, Elderberries, and Other Bush Fruits Grapes Tree Fruits & Nuts Apples and Crab Apples Pears Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots Cherries, Sweet and Sour and more

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Nature

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2011

Reviews

[Omols Roberts]

I liked this book as it has a lot of great info written in a pretty straightforward way, even with a bit of humor. It seems primarily focused on North America, and it has up to date info including best varieties of different species for different regions. My favorite Bible! Wish I had bought this at the beginning of the spring before planting things, I think I would have saved a lot of time!

[Pamela Conley]

I found the Kindle version of this book along with The Vegetable Gardner's Bible as a deal for ... I think it was $2.99 in the "Kindle Daily Deals". My husband and I each took one and then we are trading. This book is excellent. It is complete with out making you crazy with details. It is well structured and the explanations are easy to follow. If you have even considered growing any of your own fruit I highly recommend this book. This book helped me figure out the fungus my peach trees have an how to treat it, how to get blueberries to grow in my soil, how to prune my raspberry bushes, and what to do to manage the quarter acre of 40 year old grape vines I own. I see my self coming back to this book often as a reference.

[Megan]

Solid book with a lot of detailed information -- covers both organic and non-organic approaches. I LOVE data, and this book was full of charts. Hardiness, yields, time to maturity for plants, etc. Good stuff!

The book does cover a wide range of fruit, including unusual varieties, so I was surprised to see nothing on fig trees. The front also promised "edible landscaping", which I think was about a page. But those are about my only (minor) complaints. Given that most gardening books skim over fruit by saying, "Well. Umm. Strawberries exist. Moving on!" -- this was a valuable read for me. If I ever plant fruit trees, I'd want to have it on hand as a reference.

[Amelanchier]

Notes for self:
1. Kniffen system for grape pruning
2. Use sheet mulching around trees or bushes- 1. compost layer 2. cardboard/news 3. mulch
3. Wrap young (<5y) trees with plastic or metal guards to prevent mice and vole damage
4. Keep mulch away from base of trees for same reason
5. Sterilize pruning shears before each ne tree- spray with rubbing alcohol and dry immediately or use lysol (less corrosive)
6. N-P-K; N-good for fast green growth, P-for roots and shoots (do NOT overdo, will leach into groundwater), K- for fruits and roots, increases disease resistance
7. 12-18 Rule- how to tell if your tree needs fertilizer. New trees should put on 18 in of new growth/yr; established trees 12 in

Organic Nutrient Sources
1. Alfalfa meal 2-1-2
2. Blood meal 12-0-0
3. Bone meal 4-12--0
4. Cottonseed meal 6-0-1 ***Good for acid-loving plants like blueberries
5. Fish products 5-2-2 has an odor, beneficial for other ***trace elements
6. Greensand - ocean deposits 0-0-3 + trace elements
7. COMPOSTED poultry manure - strong odor, must be composted as very concentrated fresh (as high as 56-45-34), also to reduce pathogens
8. Rock phosphate 0-3-0
9. Seaweed 0-0-0 +micronutrients, "beneficial compounds"
10. Soy meal 7-2-1 in pellets usually
11. Wood ash 0-1-3 alkaline

[Superbunny]

pretty good book on fruit gardening, everything you need to know from soil types to pest control. it doesn't really cover tropical fruits though - which was what i was looking for. this book is all about apples, pears, nectarine, apricots, plums, grapes, berries, etc and strawberries - which was mentioned like 1000x throughout the book, lol. it didn't really cover tropical fruits like sapodilla and tamarind which was what i was looking for. oh well...

[Jenni]

Chock full of information and tips on soils, mulches, pruning, growing, and pests and diseases that might be a problem in a fruit garden, this book is going to be a reference I return to over and over again in the future. There are even sections on how to use each fruit - preserving, baking, and eating fresh from the garden.

[Lovely Winters]

Great reference book. I purchased plants then studied up on the plants, bad move. I had to end up cancelling part of my order. This reference books tells you about varieties you should order for your area, the type of soil needed, and pruning. Yes it’s information you can google but this book puts it all in one place. Great to have for gardening.

[Jessica Baumgartner]

Invaluable resource!
I've been learning through trial-and-error for a few years, but since we're expanding to fruit bushes and trees in our garden this year, I had to pick this up and I'm so glad I did. This book really is the bible for fruit gardeners. I've earmarked so many pages and keep going back over the material.
GET THIS BOOK

[Diane Sharp]

Great resource for anyone who is growing any type of fruits. Covers anything you can imagine in great detail to efficiently grow the fruit of your choice. This is also helpful to troubleshoot problems that you may have. This would be a great reference in their personal library for anyone who has fruit trees or bushes in their garden.

[M D]

A great book, both to read through altogether but also to refer back to annually.
Comprehensive in covering all sorts of berries and brambles and trees.
Great photos, easy to understand and incorporate into the home orchard.
Highly recommend!

[Desi]

very helpful!!!

[Valerie Blackburn]

Very detailed instructions for pruning and gardening. Well organized with photos, sidebar notes and illustrations. Some techniques were new to me.

[Jeanne Lambrianou]

Excellent reference!

[Jade Cahoon]

Wonderful reference.

[Justin9494]

This was a very well-rounded book on growing fruit. I do think we could dive deeper into some of the uncommon fruit it only mentions as many of these are becoming more common.

[dY dX]

Primarily focused on North America.

[raccoon reader]

Okay, so I'll be honest... I kept this book and didn't read it because I check out too many books at once and read very few of them because I'm overwhelmed by the pile o' books. But then I saw this one was due and did a "cram session" of flipping and skimming last night and I have to say, at least at a cursory glance I think this is the best fruit book I've read yet. They had a little of everything and went in depth where necessary. I really want to read this book cover to cover. That said, I didn't read it cover to cover obviously so take my review with a grain of salt...er...a grain of berry seeds. A full read might reveal a different answer. Good luck to the person who gets the book after me!

[Nathan Heckle]

Great Book

I was not sure about this book when I started but I quickly changed my mind. Helpful book for those who want to learn the basics of growing fruit. This is must have for all gardeners. My gardening has forever changed. I’m grateful for the help provided by this book. One of the best on the subject I have read. It is simple yet detailed enough to be a help. Get it now!

[Kelly Smith]

A very comprehensive fruit growing manual. I borrowed this from the library, but it's definitely something I will add to my personal collection.

[Stephanie]

I liked how in depth it was on how to grow the fruits. I especially liked the detail on how to prune fruit frees and bushes. It's now on my wish list to own!

[Cathy]

This is one book I borrowed from the library and am intending to buy for my reference shelf!