Lewis Hill - The Fruit Gardeners Bible: A Complete Guide to Growing Fruits and Nuts in the Home Garden

The Fruit Gardeners Bible

A Complete Guide to Growing Fruits and Nuts in the Home Garden

Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Elizabeth P. Stell and Carleen Madigan

Art direction and book design by Dan O. Williams and Carolyn Eckert

Text production by Liseann Karandisecky and Jennifer Jepson Smith

Front cover photography: from top left: gooseberries Joshua McCullough; strawberries bravo1954/iStockphoto.com; grapes Mark Bolton/GAP Photos Ltd.; blueberries Ewa Brozek/iStockphoto.com; cherry trio Red Helga/iStockphoto. com; pear craftvision/iStockphoto.com; blackberries Jonathan Buckley; currants Valentyn Volkov/iStockphoto. com; apricots house_red/iStockphoto.com; cherries John Glover/GAP Photos Ltd.; almonds Alexandr Tovstenko/iStockphoto.com; plums Jonathan Buckley; raspberries Floortje/iStockphoto.com; peaches Kutay Tanir/iStockphoto. com; loganberries Zara Napier/GAP Photos Ltd.; walnuts Kevin Dyer/iStockphoto.com; apples Jerry Pavia

Back cover and spine photography: pruning Friedrich Strauss/GAP Photos Ltd.; blueberries Tim Gainey/GAP Photos Ltd.; pear Nickos/iStockphoto.com; raspberries Ewa Brozek/iStockphoto.com

Interior photography credits appear on pages 310 and 311

Illustrations by Beverly Duncan

Indexed by Christine R. Lindemer, Boston Road Communications

2011 by Nancy Hill

Portions of this text were originally published under the title Fruits & Berries for the Home Garden, 1992.

Editorial revision by Leonard Perry

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hill, Lewis, 1924

The fruit gardeners bible / Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry.

p. cm.

Includes index.

Previous eds. published as: Fruits and berries for the home garden.

ISBN 978-1-60342-567-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-60342-984-9 (hardcover: alk. paper)

1. Fruit-culture. I. Perry, Leonard P. II. Title. III. Title: Fruits and berries for the home garden.

SB355.H655 2012

634dc23

2011024870

Part One
Getting Started with Fruits and Nuts

CHAPTER 1
Fruits and Nuts in the Home Garden

CHAPTER 2
What to Grow and Where

CHAPTER 3
Seasonal Care of Fruits and Nuts

Part Two
The Small Fruits: Berries, Bushes, and Brambles

CHAPTER 4
Strawberries

CHAPTER 5
Raspberries and Blackberries

CHAPTER 6
Blueberries

CHAPTER 7
Ribes, Elderberries, and Other Bush Fruits

CHAPTER 8
Grapes for Every Region

Part Three
Tree Fruits & Nuts

CHAPTER 9
Apples and Crab Apples

CHAPTER 10
Pears

CHAPTER 11
Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots

CHAPTER 12
Plums for Every Region

CHAPTER 13
Cherries, Sweet and Sour

CHAPTER 14
Nuts

Part Four
Growing Healthy Fruits, Nuts, and Berries

CHAPTER 15
Improving Your Soil

CHAPTER 16
Getting Plants off to a Good Start

CHAPTER 17
Pruning: Not Just for Trees

CHAPTER 18
Diseases, Insects, and Other Fruit Problems

CHAPTER 19
Wildlife Friends and Foes

UNTIL ONE IS INVOLVED with writing, or in this case extensively revising, a book of this magnitude, one cannot imagine the number of people who help to make it a reality, to grow mere words into a beautiful and useful gardening reference. I am most thankful to Carleen Madigan for inviting me to undertake this project, and then for providing extra time to make some needed changes. In addition, Im grateful to the reviewers, the artist, the photographers, and the many other production personnel Ive not had the pleasure to meet. Thanks especially to Liz Stell for her patience as we worked on all the details to reorganize the material and create a book even more reader-friendly.

To make this book applicable beyond where I garden, in New England, Im indebted to the many nurseries, specialist growers, and cooperative extension professionals coast to coast and north to south who shared useful information on cultivars and practices for their particular regions. I hope this book has succeeded in tapping into, and accumulating in one place, this wealth of knowledge.

Even with so much new information added to this book, Lewiss voice still rings throughout it. Im grateful for the chance to have known Lewis and Nancy Hill so well, and to have enjoyed good visits and learned much from them over the years. Finally, thanks to my family for giving me up for so many weeks behind the computer.

Leonard Perry

It took me about twenty years to learn

how to grow good fruit. I hope this book will help you accomplish it in less time a whole lot less.Lewis Hill