The Fruit Tree Handbook (Paperback) - Ben Pike

A clear, practical guide for both amateur and expert, explaining all you need to know to grow delicious fruit.

The Fruit Tree Handbook is a clear, practical guide for both amateur and expert, conveying a deep respect for the natural world and showing how to cultivate healthy trees through good management. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, apricots, peaches and nectarines, as well as less common fruits such as mulberries, medlars and figs, are covered in detail, with recommended varieties of each. The Fruit Tree Handbook describes all the pest and disease problems you may encounter and advises on how to deal with them organically. It also reveals all you need to know about choosing rootstocks and suitable varieties for your needs, and illuminates the mysteries of pruning with step-by-step instructions and detailed diagrams. Whether you are planting a few trees in your garden or 50 trees in a field, this book provides the expert guidance you need to look after your trees - and be rewarded with basketfuls of luscious fruit at harvest time.

About the Author

Ben Pike is an orchard consultant and writer, and is head gardener on the Sharpham Estate in Devon, where he looks after the walled fruit and vegetable garden as well as two orchards containing 150 fruit trees. In his spare time he helps to run Orchard Link, an organisation that supports orchard owners and the preservation of old orchards. There is nothing he loves more at weekends than to run old apple presses.