Wonderlands of bounty and beauty, orchards offer an abundance of fruit in a wildlife haven full of diversity. A well-managed orchard works with nature to provide maximum harvest for minimal effort.
Wade Muggleton has distilled 20 years of orchard know-how into this practical handbook to help you plan, plant and manage your orchard, whatever your garden size or budget. With his expert guidance you can have an orchard on any plot – smallholding, garden, allotment or yard – and make the right choices of rootstock, varieties, planting plan and maintenance strategies.
Not just a field with fruit trees in it, an orchard can be anything from an over-grazed field to a row of neat little cordons. With growing, harvesting, storing and preserving advice for multiple varieties, Wade helps you choose the right options for your needs and space, and provides practical suggestions on pruning, propagation, maintenance, and eco-friendly pest and disease management to help you maximise your harvest and minimise your outlay.
The diversity, history and heritage of apples and other fruit trees is fascinating, and Wade’s passion for them is infectious. Let him draw you into a world of apples and pears, walnuts and cobnuts, cherries and plums; of ancient varieties such as quince, medlar and mulberry; and even of juicy apricots, figs and peaches.
Imagine having organic fruit all year round from your own little nature haven and use Wade’s tried-and-tested experience to create your perfect orchard.
“This is such a wonderfully fascinating and beautifully illustrated book on orchards and fruit tree growing it is hard to know which part to highlight! Wade Muggleton’s comprehensive research and experiential knowledge allows him to cover all aspects of growing apples and other fruit, from a practical viewpoint, as well as the wider issues of orchard history, community involvement, personal wellbeing and species biodiversity. In a world where more than ever we need sustainable ways of sharing the land with other life forms alongside getting an edible harvest, I believe this book will encourage, inspire and guide those who read it to realise this goal in whatever size of plot or land is available to them.”
Jane Gleeson, Former Head Gardener and Programme Lead for Horticulture at Schumacher College in Devon