The Fruit Tree Handbook

• A step-by-step guide to growing all kinds of fruit trees
• Includes how to plan an orchard in small and large spaces
• Detailed advice on all aspects of fruit growing, from an orchard expert

The Fruit Tree Handbook is a clear, practical guide that will help both amateur and expert to grow delicious fruit, from apples to mulberries and plums to peaches. Simple instructions guide you through soil preparation, choosing the best varieties and planting your trees successfully, while the mysteries of pollination and pruning are unraveled with the help of diagrams and photographs.

At the heart of the book is a deep respect for the natural world, so you will find simple tips that help you to tackle pests and diseases in harmony with nature.Whether you are planting a few trees in your garden or 50 trees in a field, this book gives you all the information you need to design, plant and look after your orchard, large or small, and be rewarded with baskets full of luscious fruit at harvest time.

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 organization that supports orchard owners and the preservation of old orchards. There is nothing he loves more at weekends than to run old apple presses.