Fruit and vegetables

Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit. ~ Anton Chekhov

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Growing Fruit

As with growing vegetables, the benefits of growing your own fruit are essentially the same. By gardening organically you know that no toxic chemicals have been used to maintain shelf-life and that freshness is guaranteed same-day.

Producing your own fruit frees you from having to rely on the engineered and relatively tasteless produce available in shops and on markets. Not only that, but you have a wide variety of fruit to choose from as compared to the limited ranges off the shelf.

General Pests & Diseases : Birds, Wasps, Red Spider Mite

Tree Fruit

Cherries, Peaches & Nectarines, Apricots, Plums, Figs, Olives, Mulberries, Quinces, Apples, Pears, Kumquats

Pests & Diseases (Hard Fruit): Codling Moth, Apple Sawfly, Bitter Pit, Brown Rot, Apple Aphids, Woolly Aphids, Pear Sucker, Winter Moth, Apple Scab, Fireblight, Canker

Pests & Diseases (Soft Fruit): Plum Sawfly, Blackfly, Bacterial Canker, Peach-Leaf Curl, Silver Leaf, Plum Rust

Citrus Fruit

Lemons & Limes, Oranges, Grapefruits

Pests & Diseases: Little Leaf, Lemon Scab, Citrus Gall Wasp, Citrus Leaf Miner

Soft Fruit

Strawberry, Redcurrants & Whitecurrants, Blackcurrants, Raspberries, Gooseberries, Blueberries, Grapes

Pests & Diseases: Raspberry Beetle, Sawfly, Big Bud Mite, Reversion, Spur Blight, Leaf Spot

Worth Reading...

Growing FruitThe book is very well presented, with good pictures, photographs and text. Included are all the old favorites plus quite a few unusual or exotic fruits. The RHS get top marks for providing all the information that you will need to successfully grow fruit and presenting it in a very easy to understand way. Whether you are a beginner or a dedicated horticulturalist this book is definately one for the potting shed.

From Almonds to Worcesterberries this invaluable book is aimed at the planting, pruning and care of your fruit. Laid out in sections and written in a language that most of us will be able to understand (along with excellent drawings) this book will show you how to produce scrumptious fruits.

Growing Fruit (Royal Horticultural Society)

90:10 Pruning Principle

HelpMike Clark's principle: 10% of garden plants are a bit complicated to prune and 90% of garden shrubs can be pruned without damage, by following a simple, basic rules. And if you accidentally use this rule on some poor specimen in the 10% category, don't lose too much sleep. It is highly unlikely you will do any terminal damage.

  1. Cut out all dead wood, back to healthy growth.
  2. Always prune to a centimetre or so above a bud. Because new growth will come from a bud, and any stem left above that will die, and provide an entry point for disease.
  3. Alleviate congestion in the centre of the plant by removing any shoots which cross, or rub against other shoots.
  4. If pruning to restrict size, on most plants (90/10!) you can cut back as hard as you like, but always follow 2. above.
  5. Remember that the most vigorous new growth will come from the first bud below your cut. So you can determine where you want the plant to grow from.
  6. If your plant is congested, prune to an outward facing bud. The new shoot will grow outwards instead of inwards.
  7. The most common mistake is not pruning hard enough!
  8. Don't let them frighten you!