Growing Urban Orchards

by Susan Poizner

You’d think growing fruit trees would be easy. You just plant them, water them, and wait for the harvest, right? Well, that’s not quite the case. Fruit trees are delicate and need hands-on care, especially when planted in the challenging urban environment. In this award-winning* book, community orchardist Susan Poizner teaches you everything you need to know to grow fruit trees in the city, from choosing the right tree to pruning, feeding and protecting your tree from pests and disease. Thinking of planting a fruit tree? This book will save you time and money and allow you to grow fruit trees successfully, right from the start. *Growing Urban Orchards is the recipient of a 2014 Garden Writers Association Silver Award of Achievement for General Readership.

Genres: Gardening

110 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2013

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an amateur introduction to urban community orchards, this is a remarkable resource. For any who are interested in starting either a community orchard or a backyard orchard, I would recommend this book. It is well organized, has good and helpful illustrations, and includes annotated resources for further information. The quibbles I have are far outweighed by the important information conveyed in this useful volume. Read this before you begin and follow up with the resources provided. Kudos to Susan Poizner!

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, the content was pretty good for tree maintenance and health. However, my big complaint here is that this is for urban orchards. Her answer to that was to get approved to grow fruit trees in a park. This isn't the answer I was expecting.

There is a lot of information on pruning and growing trees in a way that is suitable for very small spaces (see Dave Wilson Nursery on Youtube). I expected a lot of these techniques that expand on those theories, which there were none.

Living in a city, I unfortunately do not have space for 20' trees in my yard. I see need to do more research before I feel comfortable planting.

[Rowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really nice to have the perspective of a grower in my actual growing zone. It had the feel of a book written by the intermediate student for the beginner student, which was a downside in that the author didn't have the same depth of knowledge that other authors I've read have, but good in that it had a good understanding of what the absolute beginner might need to know. The beginners advice was very practical and less romantic than some other books - things like "if you spend a lot of time picking out the perfect variety of apple online, you will inevitably find that none of your local nurseries sell it."

[Daniel Kleven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have fruit trees now, and I'm trying to figure out how to care for them. The next major project is a years-overdue pruning, which I should do in "late winter"--which, this week of February 2024, the high will be 50º here in Minnesota. What season is it again?!?

Anyway, this was a helpful book on general urban tree care, from soil, to insects, to pruning, to harvesting, and had some nice stories/case studies from urban orchards or parks in other cities. I liked it.

[librarianka · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a beginner community gardener/orchardist I use this book a lot. It is very well clearly organized and presents a practical approach to small scale growing and taking care of fruit trees from selecting, planting, irrigating, pruning and controlling diseases. This book is indispensable and very useful for planning your activities and maintaining a small orchard.