(Part 2) Best fruit gardening books according to redditors

i think it is this

Does the shop stock any cider books? Seems like a win-win if they'd let you borrow a book or two.

Start at the top of this list and work your way down. Reading a few of these books will be a far superior learning experience to browsing online and trying to piece information together.

Cider Appreciation and History
World's Best Cider: Taste, Tradition and Terroir, from Somerset to Seattle
The Naked Guide to Cider
Cider - CAMRA
Ciderland
Golden Fire: The Story of Cider

I also enjoy Alan Stone's cider books, but the best one is currently sold out.

Apples and Cider Making
Haynes Cider Enthusiasts' Manual: The Practical Guide to Growing Apples and Making Cider
Craft Cider Making
How to Grow Apples and Make Cider
The Apple Orchard: The Story of Our Most English Fruit

Don't get a dwarf peach tree - get a peach tree that has the right number of chill hours for your area (more below). Peach trees should be pruned aggressively each dormant season to optimize fruit production, but also to limit size. It's common practice to keep the tree at a size that allows you to pick the fruit without a ladder. It's very easy to keep them limited to a smaller size.

About chill hours - peaches require a certain number of "chill hours" (time spent at temperatures in a cold range) in order to set fruit. You need to look up the chill hours for your area and get a tree that is close to that. If you choose a tree that has too few hours, it might wake up from dormancy before the final frost and you'd lose all your crop. If you choose one that has too many hours, it might never wake up from dormancy. I live in an area that is around 700 hours, so we planted two different varieties that are 650 and 800 chill hours.

I also recommend planting a bare root tree (aka "whip"). It's tempting to buy a giant tree, but smaller ones will get established quicker and do better over the longer period. This also allows you to make the first years pruning cut that will establish the scaffold limbs and the shape of the tree (i.e. limiting it's height).

Source: Successfully grown peaches as a homeowner in Austin. This book is the bible and has everything you need to know. I HIGHLY recommend reading through it (takes 3-4 hours) before purchasing a peach tree. It will explain everything from site selection to pruning: https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-AgriLife-Research-Extension-Service/dp/1603442669

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I have this one around somewhere. Picked it out at the Mt Rainier gift shop about oh 22 years ago. Most of what I've learned was passed down in the family, great-grandpa was a logger in the PNW, taught grandpa growing up in Oly, taught mom growing up in Seattle, taught me. https://www.amazon.com/Edible-Fruits-Berries-Marjorie-Furlong/dp/0879610328

Here is a very good reference guide for care and maintenance of fruit trees: The Backyard Orchardist, by Otto.

Like someone said, compost is huge. But you don't have to jump into making it yourself. Strange's has some mushroom compost for like $7 for a big bag. I used a ton on various garden plots I made, after a year of meh garden results, and most of my plants grew far bigger than advertised. What your soil is like is important because it may need a bit of work in addition to compost.

- How big is the area you're looking to do?

- How important is organic/chemical free/etc. gardening to you? I ask because I noticed someone said use miracle gro. A lot of soils like that are so full of chemicals it's crazy, and I don't think they work that well. Depending on your area and how your soil is, there are plenty of other, healthier options, even if you don't spring for organic soil.

Oh, and in gardening there are tons of hacks people will want to tell you about. Most of them either don't work or aren't worth the time and money. Raised beds are all the rage and look nice but may not be advantageous in your case. Don't trust Youtube videos that are like "GROW 500 pounds of tomatoes in 3 square feet by doing this!"

This is a great book for knowing what to do and when for gardens: https://www.amazon.com/Homegrown-Harvest-Season-Season-Sustainable/dp/1845335600

I also make some great tomato cages and arches out of cattle panel and plan to make some for peppers this year since they got so tall last year, if you're interested. They're very strong and don't rust.

Check out the forums too, some serious gardening heavy weights post there regularly including Dr, Carolyn Male. She literally wrote the book on heirloom tomatoes.

https://www.amazon.com/Old-Southern-Apples-Comprehensive-Description/dp/1603582940

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Old Southern Apples is a book I had considered getting, it might be up your alley- growing region dependent.

Here is the latest edition - i'd like to read this, too. Expensive Book.

https://www.amazon.com/Peppers-Vegetable-Spice-Capsicums-Agriculture-dp-1845938259/dp/1845938259/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1557933100

This book has great information It lets you know when to plant which vegetables and fruits, and even the varieties that do best in our climate. I've had great success following the planting times listed here and the planting varieties. Later, I can send you a summary of what to plant when. I just need to look it up once I have a few minutes.

Here you go.

Dick Raymond's Joy of Gardening has been a favorite among home gardeners for many years. There's a lot of great information about gardening methods, crops, and pests or other problems to watch out for.

As far as seeds, I've always used Burpee and Park. Park Seed's site appears to be down at the moment, but I'm sure it's because the responsible folks are out on holiday vacation.

Check out your local municipality for a seed exchange. Here in Nashville, our public library runs a seed exchange. In the United States, the last Saturday of January is "National Seed Swap Day".

You might also give your local extension a shout. Many universities operate extension web sites with information tailored to your area. Your flair suggests you're in PA. Penn State operates an extension that I'm sure is full of great information.

The NPR station out of Philadelphia (WHYY) hosts a gardening show called You Bet Your Garden. I wake up to our local syndication on Saturday mornings and I often catch interesting bits and pieces of information. You might give it a listen.

Welcome to gardening!

Looks like you're in zone 4a/b.

You should be starting your long-season plants indoors now (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, anything that takes a full season to grow) then hardening them off and moving them outside [after the last frost.] (http://www.almanac.com/content/frost-chart-canada) Things that have a shorter growing season (like peas and beans) can be planted directly in the ground but the timing should be staggered a bit so you don't end up with 2lbs of peas one week and none the next.

Keep notes this year on when/where/what you planted and how it turned out. There's a lot to learn when just starting out; I'd suggest sticking around in this subreddit, googling the specific plants you want to learn more about, and picking up a gardening book dans la langue de votre choix. I picked up [How to Grow Food] (http://www.amazon.com/How-Grow-Food-Step-step/dp/1770853170) last year and I think it's a great beginner guide, but may not be for you depending on your English proficiency.

Here's a general article on pruning for you.

Olive trees, like other fruit trees, will benefit from regular pruning. There are videos on YouTube about the different kinds of pruning, or you check out books from your local library, or buy a used book online.

These are some of my favorites:

• Crockett's Victory Garden - There are also versions for flowers and lawns as well as the main garden one. It's organized by month and has lots of special chapters on different skills or tools or general information.
  
  
• Square Foot Gardening - It's written as a persuasive piece, but it's got good information on all different kinds of vegetables and explains the square foot method. Even if you don't use the method itself, the ideas in general can be useful.
  
  
• Backyard Herb Garden - This is an older book, but it's got a lot of helpful specific information on different herbs and ideas for growing them.
  
  
• Kitchen Garden for Beginners - It's not a perfect book, but I think it did a great job giving an overview of different gardening methods, plants and issues you might face.
  
  
• Vertical Gardening - This one is more specific, but all the trellis designs were fun and very helpful.
  
  
• Storey Country Wisdom Bulletins - These are nice little pamphlets ($4 on Amazon) on different plants (ie. tomatoes, peppers, strawberries) or topics (ie. fixing your soil or building a fence) that are pretty useful for gardening. Also they had some ideas that were new to me.
  
  
• Garden Primer - This one is also a good overview. And seems to be popular it covers general garden topics and has information about specific vegetables.
  
  
• The New Self Sufficient Gardener - It's got a lot of good general information, awesome illustrations, background explanation and information on specific vegetables.
  
  In terms of location specific information, as someone who recently moved half way across the country, your best off looking up the Extension website for where your living to find information on suggested varieties, new pests you might encounter, soil types and things like that.

I went to a local nursery and Costco neither had cherry trees. I think Stark Bros. is my best option at this point. So you get the trees bareroot and then have to put them in the ground right away?

What do you mean 3 60' raised beds? sq feet or 60' long. You have a picture of them?

Is this the book your talking about? It looks pretty good. I just bought The Fruit Gardener's Bible yesterday though. Maybe I'll pick up this one too.

Second the "Square Foot Gardening" book. Also check out "Earthly Delights", "Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces", and "Vertical Gardening".

Probably the key thing for me would be what kind the soil is (though one can of course improve it).

This is one of the books:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/RHS-Step-Step-Veg-Patch/dp/1405394439

Durian