Fruit Trees for Every Garden ― An Organic Approach to Growing Apples, Pears, Peaches, Plums, Citrus, and More

Written by the long-time manager of the highly regarded Alan Chadwick Garden at the University of California, Santa Cruz, this substantial primer covers everything a home gardener needs to know about organically growing fruit trees including apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, nectarine, cherry, citrus, and more.

You haven't truly experienced flavor until you've eaten fruit fresh out of hand in your own garden. You want perfectly crisp apples? Sweet, juicy pears? Or how about varieties that can never be found in the store? For more than 40 years, Orin Martin has taught thousands of students, apprentices, and home gardeners the art and craft of growing fruit trees organically. In Fruit Trees for Every Garden, he shares--with homespun wisdom and humor--the keys to selecting, planting, growing, and tending healthy, productive trees, whether you're growing one fruit tree or one hundred. Even better, he explains the why behind the how, breaking down the science into bite-sized and digestible morsels that lead to happier, healthier trees. Orin covers ideal placement, soil, compost, cover crops, fertilizer, water, winter and summer pruning, pests and diseases, and much more in his uniquely down-to-earth, approachable style, all paired with clear illustrations, full-color photography, and evocative intaglio etchings by artist Stephanie Martin for a beautifully packaged yet practical guide that you will both treasure and turn to for years to come.

ORIN MARTIN is manager of the three-acre Alan Chadwick Garden (home of 600 fruit trees) at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Farming Systems at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and manager of the orchard at UCSC's Farm & Garden. Since 1977, he has taught classes, lectures, and workshops to thousands of gardeners and budding farmers. His daughter, MANJULA MARTIN, is a writer, managing editor of Zoetrope magazine, and editor of the book Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living.

STEPHANIE MARTIN is a painter and printmaker living on the California coast with her husband, Orin Martin. Her intaglio etchings depict the flora and avifauna of her native landscape.