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Gardens, Yards,
Balconies, Roof Terraces
Alan Buckingham
DK
February 2016/ ISBN 9781465444851
Nonfiction / Fruits / Gardening / Reference Guide
Reviewed
by Leslie C. Halpern
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This comprehensive soft-cover gardening
book highlights growing more than 50 fruit in a new edition
of the author’s popular 2010 book. Filled with more varieties,
and beautiful color photographs (many taken by Buckingham),
the book illustrates how to plant, how to prune and how to know
when fruit is ripe, and includes a section for each fruit called
“What Can Go Wrong,” which depicts and describes
various insect infestations and diseases that can destroy crops.
The book divides fruit into three main types: tree fruit such
as apples, pears, and plums; soft fruit such as strawberries,
raspberries, and blackberries; and tender and unusual fruit
such as the warm-climate favorites, oranges, grapefruit, melons,
and kiwifruit. As a general guide, the information is intended
for readers of many geographical regions. When talking about
planting and nurturing each fruit, Buckingham provides season-by-season
instructions and briefly notes differences in soil, temperature,
sunlight, and wind according to location, but devotes the majority
of space to the pleasures and pitfalls of planting each variety,
rather than focusing on individual climates and terrains.
With the help of specialist consultant, Fern Marshall Bradley,
Grow Fruit also offers suggestions for planting crops
in all kinds of spaces including balconies, roof terraces, gardens,
and yards, with specific ideas about what to plant according
to each gardener’s limitations. Whether planting in large
containers or directly into the ground, the book details expected
height and width of the plants and how to guard against typical
pests and diseases.
Take strawberries, for instance. The book describes nine kinds
of strawberries, and how to plant them directly into the ground,
through plastic mulch, in containers, or in hanging baskets.
Routine care for the berries, including watering, feeding, netting,
and frost protection is provided, followed by harvesting and
storing information, and tips for what to do each season and
how to prevent problems with leaves, stems, and fruit.
For novice gardeners to those with a proven green thumb, Grow
Fruit offers a wealth of information about planting fruit trees,
bushes, and vines in easy-to-understand terms, with helpful
photographs to illustrate the steps for producing a healthy
and bountiful crop.
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| Reviewer
Leslie C. Halpern is the author of Passionate About
Their Work: 151 Celebrities, Artists, and Experts on Creativity,
Rub, Scrub, Clean the Tub: Funny Children's Poems About
Self-Image, and Shakes, Cakes, Frosted Flakes: Funny
Children's Poems About Table Manners. |
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