The Orchard Book: Plan, Plant and Maintain Fruit from Garden to Field

by Wade Muggleton

Wonderlands of bounty and beauty, orchards offer an abundance of fruit in a wildlife haven full of diversity. A well-managed orchard works with nature to provide maximum harvest for minimal effort.

Wade Muggleton has distilled 20 years of orchard know-how into this practical handbook to help you plan, plant and manage your orchard, whatever your garden size or budget. With his expert guidance you can have an orchard on any plot – smallholding, garden, allotment or yard – and make the right choices of rootstock, varieties, planting plan and maintenance strategies.

Not just a field with fruit trees in it, an orchard can be anything from an over-grazed field to a row of neat little cordons. With growing, harvesting, storing and preserving advice for multiple varieties, Wade helps you choose the right options for your needs and space, and provides practical suggestions on pruning, propagation, maintenance, and eco-friendly pest and disease management to help you maximise your harvest and minimise your outlay.

The diversity, history and heritage of apples and other fruit trees is fascinating, and Wade’s passion for them is infectious. Let him draw you into a world of apples and pears, cherries and plums; of ancient varieties such as quince, medlar and mulberry; and even of juicy apricots, figs and peaches.

Imagine having organic fruit all year round from your own little nature haven and use Wade’s tried-and-tested experience to create your perfect orchard.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2021

Reviews

[Beans beans beans beans beans beans beans beans beans · Rating 5 out of 5]

some books fall into the trap of 'once youve read 5 gardening books youve read them all' - this is not one of those books

the book gives a comprehensive guide to integrating fruit trees into gardens or to taking care of trees as part of a standalone orchard, while employing permaculture principles to better inform the gardeners choices. it covers the history of orchards, grafting, and covers varieties and tree genetics in an easy to understand and entertaining way

i loved reading this book, and has given me a great respect and awe for our orchards and the local, rare, ancient breeds of apple that surround us.

i will absolutely be searching out my local apple club and adding a few heritage apples to my allotment - please read this book!!

[Crina-Ludmila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about establishing an orchard where once was a denuded field

I highly recommend reading this book and having a copy in your personal library.

I enjoyed learning about the author's experiences of how he planted his garden and established his orchard. The photographs were also very useful.

This is a great inspiration, and a short yet plenty informative book. Alongside 'Trees of Power' by Akiva Silver, this makes a great gift, especially for people with permaculture aspirations or simply for anyone interested in creating, living, and thriving in a wonderful global community.

[Angelo Farina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew zero about orchards and loved the author's simple, down to earth approach to the subject. A little bot pf everything yiu need to know to start, with high level considerations that were more than welcomed for my learning style.