The Fruit Tree Handbook - Softcover

Pike, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1900322749 ISBN 13: 9781900322744

Verlag: Green Books, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

A clear, practical guide for both amateur and expert, explaining all you need to know to grow delicious fruit - from designing your orchard and planting your trees to harvesting.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ben Pike is an orchard consultant and writer. Before his retirement, Ben ran an orchard business and was head gardener on the Sharpham Estate in Devon, where he looked after the walled fruit and vegetable garden as well as two orchards. In his spare time he helped to run Orchard Link, an organisation that supports orchard owners and the preservation of old orchards. He now lives in Canada, where he works with both indoor plants and fruit trees.

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The Fruit Tree Handbook

By Ben Pike, Jennifer Johnson

Green Books Ltd

Copyright © 2011 Ben Pike
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-900322-74-4

Contents

Introduction, 
PART ONE: Preparation, planning and planting, 
1 The site of your orchard, 
2 Rootstocks, 
3 Pollination, flowering and fruit development, 
4 Choosing fruit trees, 
5 Planning your orchard, 
6 Buying and planting trees, 
PART TWO: Fruit tree management, 
7 Caring for your trees, 
8 Pruning fruit trees, 
9 Problems of fruit trees, 
PART THREE: The fruits, 
10 Apples, 
11 Pears, 
12 Plums, 
13 Cherries, 
14 Peaches and nectarines, 
15 Apricots, 
16 Other fruits, 
PART FOUR: Traditional orchards, 
17 Restoring a neglected orchard, 
18 Community orchards, 
Glossary, 
Appendices, 
Resources, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

The site of your orchard

There is such a thing as a perfect site for growing fruit trees. It would be a south-facing spot sheltered from strong winds and away from frost pockets. The soil would be a fertile, well-drained loam with a pH of around 6.5. Although such sites are to be found, it is unlikely that you will live in such a place.

There are many variables affecting the cultivation of fruit trees. Some, such as soil fertility, drainage and shelter, can be adjusted, while others, such as altitude or aspect, must be worked with as they are. Although the site of your orchard might seem far from ideal, there is much that you should be able to do to improve it. Most places in the British Isles are suitable for growing fruit trees, although you will need to choose the type of fruit trees you intend to grow according to the locality. If you live on a sheltered site in the south of England, you can take your pick from the different fruits featured in this book. It is only if you live in a cold mountainous area with little topsoil that you will not be able to grow fruit trees. If, like most of us, you live somewhere in between, you will have to tailor your fruit growing to the conditions, but you will be able to harvest crops of delicious home-grown fruit.

It may be that you have room for only one or two trees, but, unless you have a really small garden, you will have some choice about where you plant them. Choosing between different parts of your site involves understanding variables such as sun and shade, soil and exposure, and the effect that they have on your fruit trees. Making the right decisions about the position of your trees can be a key factor in the success of your orchard: it is not just a question of growing the right trees, but also of planting them in the right place.

Finding a suitable site for your trees is largely a matter of avoiding extremes of drainage, pH, exposure, soil type and microclimate. This chapter explains about the ideal conditions for growing fruit trees and ways to overcome any difficulties that may be present on your site.

The best way to assess the conditions is simply to observe the site over a period of time. Look to see where the frost lies heaviest in the winter, where the sunlight falls at different times of the year and how the water drains away after heavy rainfall. Such observation will build a picture of the conditions in your garden that you can then use to determine the best place to plant fruit trees. You can supplement your own knowledge with a soil test, which will give a scientific analysis of the soil, pinpointing any deficiencies that need remedying.

Soil

Soil is a miraculous substance that forms a thin skin over the surface of the earth. When you look at a landscape, what you see is the soil and the plants that grow in it, but this is almost a mirage, because what lies just underneath the surface is rock. It is this rock that the soil is formed from originally, but it also contains a host of other organisms that give life to the soil, such as fungi, earthworms, bacteria and humus.

Soil types

Soil types are divided into different classifications according to the biggest constituent, although, in practice, most soils contain a mixture of the different types.

Clay soils

The most common method of classifying soil types is by particle size. Clay soils contain the finest particles. They bind together into a tight mass, which can be heavy and sticky when wet, or hard and unforgiving when dry. Clay soils often crack as they dry out during the summer. They are easily damaged by treading on them while wet, which compacts the soil. They are potentially fertile soils, but this fertility can be locked away in the tightly bound structure.

Clay soils tend to warm up slowly in the spring and also drain more slowly than other soils.

Sandy soils

Sandy soils contain the largest particles. The resultant larger spaces between the particles mean that sandy soils drain well-often too well for the gardener's liking. They warm up quickly in the spring, but also dry out quickly. They are often low in nutrients, which can be easily leached away by heavy rainfall. They tend to be more acidic and low in organic matter.

Silty soils

Silty soils contain intermediate-sized particles, somewhere between those of clay and sandy soils. They tend to have some of the characteristics of clay soils, such as high fertility and easy compaction, and some characteristics of sandy soils, such as good drainage, while avoiding the extremes of either.

Loamy soils

There are also a number of combination soil types, of which loamy soils are the most important. They are a mix of different types of soil types that may include clay, silt and sand. They often have a relatively high organic content, particularly where the soil has been improved over the years. Loamy soils tend to be ideal for growing fruit trees because they are fertile and avoid the extremes of drainage found in clay and sandy soils.

Peaty soils

Peaty soils are largely composed of decaying organic matter. As such, they hold moisture well and are generally very fertile. Peaty soils are mostly found in the area around The Wash, in East Anglia, as well as in other localised pockets.

Chalky soils

Chalk soils are found in large swathes of southern England. They are alkaline and often lacking in fertility. They are often described as 'thin' soils, being light and crumbly to the touch. They may contain pieces of chalk.

Identifying your soil type

Simply looking at your soil will give you clues to its composition. You might notice elements of the bedrock in the soil, such as shale or chalk, or you might see a dark peaty look or a light sandy texture. Digging the soil will give you further clues. A heavy cloddy texture will point you in the direction of a clay soil, for example. Digging deeper will provide more evidence; the greater the depth of soil you find, the better. Exposing the subsoil or bedrock will give you more idea of what the soil is composed of.

The easiest way of identifying the presence of clay in the soil is to attempt to roll the soil into a ball in your hand. Take a small lump of moist soil, then roll and squeeze in one hand until it forms a ball or otherwise. If the soil refuses to form a ball and feels gritty, then you have sandy soil. If the soil readily forms a tight ball, then you have soil with a high clay content. If the result is somewhere between the two, you are likely to have a loamy...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Green Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1900322749
• ISBN 13: 9781900322744
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 352
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Buchpark GmbH; gpsr@buchpark.de; ; Krügerweg 1; Trebbin; Brandenburg; 14959; Deutschland