Fruit Trees in Small Spaces: Abundant Harvests from Your Own Backyard

by Colby Eierman

Luscious peaches, crisp apples, and sweet plums right off the tree are hard to beat. For gardeners yearning for the pleasures of home-grown fruit plucked straight from the tree, this deliciously encouraging guide cuts the subject down to size. Colby Eierman, garden designer and fruit expert, shows how trees can easily be tucked into the tiniest spots and still yield a bumper crop of gorgeous fruit. Fruit Trees in Small Spaces covers everything a gardener needs to know about choosing and nurturing the most delicious small-space varieties, including selection, pruning, training, irrigation, and disease prevention. With inspiring ideas for spaces of all shapes and sizes and creative recipes for your incredible harvest, you'll want to plant a mini-orchard in every intimate corner. For the gardener with space limitations, bountiful fruit trees are now within arm's reach.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2012

Reviews

[Laurla2]

helpful info on thinning, not much info on pruning.
-thin early and often lest a branch break. overburdened trees end up with undersized fruit that cannot fully ripen, or trees will slip into every-other-year fruiting cycles.
-for pear trees, thin fruits 4-6 inches between one fruit and the next
-midsummer pruning for size, to keep trees small. prune when dry to help prevent fungal issues.
-chill hours - number of hours fruit trees spend in dormancy, below 45 degrees. different fruits and different varieties require different lengths of time. important to consider, choose a variety appropriate for your climate. if a tree does not get enough chill hours, or gets too many, it wont set fruit.
-some fruit trees suggest thinning fruits to 8 inches apart.
-fertilize fruit trees in early spring. too much nitrogen (first number 10-10-10) gets you lots of leaves and no fruit. dont overdo it.
-apples and pears are of the 'pome' family.
-one pound of liquid fertilizer per inch of trunk diameter. over-fertilizing leads to excessive leaves which can lead to fireblight.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good discussion of how to grow fruit trees in your backyard, but lacking a lot of detail. For example, some tree varieties are listed but the information given on them is quite minimal. I believe the author lives in Sonoma or Napa, so he tends to focus on fruit that can be grown there and not provide a lot of information on fruits that can be grown in other areas. Mostly it is "ask your local extension service / professional". The section on care and pruning is pretty basic as well.

I enjoyed the book, but I think there are more information rich sources out there.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the organization of the book, which I believe helped me learn more.

It covers a lot of different varieties, possibly to the extent of overkill, but I also have to acknowledge that I am better able to identify some local varieties now that I know what to look for.

[Rowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bulk of the book is lists of tree varieties (mostly not relevant to my growing zone) and recipes for fruit (almost entirely sweets and treats rather than actual food). The little actual advice contained within the book was solid, though, and I'll probably return to this book when I'm ready to start planting.

[PoligirlReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3. This book somehow manages to contain too much and too little information at the same time. A lot of content was covered, but the details that I think you would need to actually plant successfully was really thin. I think it would have been better served by determining what type of book it wanted to be--would it be about planting and harvesting, or about fruit tree types? I think the former would have had more interest and value across the board.

[Christine]

Orange Wine recipe

[jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I need to buy this book or at least check it out from the library again. I couldn't store all the information in my head before it had to be returned.

I thought it was interesting that the Backyard Orchard Culture system only got one small sidebar mention. Otherwise this book has useful information about selecting for varieties, planting, pruning, fertilizing, harvesting, protecting from pests, etc.

This book is both inspirational and aspirational. Some of the ideas are just beyond the scope of my backyard but I still loved reading about them. I only wish there were more, better photos. I know. I always say that, but I love pictures, guys.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything one needs for growing fruit trees is here and has the added bonus of addressing the space limitations many of us face. With more people wanting to experience fresh home-grown food this book is perfect for most libraries and home collections. Coverage includes varieties best suited for containers and small garden applications, pruning, harvesting, pests and diseases. Recipes at the end include wines, compotes, relishes, and preserves that are interesting and less commonly found.

[Alisa Kester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful.