The Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Fruits and Berries Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply

by Karen Szklany Gault

Many of the fruits and berries in your refrigerator have roots in countries outside the United States, but some, such as blueberries, are native to the United States and Canada. Those same fruits and berries are exported to your local grocer, but you could be the one doing the growing in your personal garden. Homegrown fruits are most often much healthier than store bought produce, which lack important nutrients. Not only are these foods easy to grow, but also they hold key ingredients that are a vital part of staying healthy and in some cases alive. For example, research has shown that blueberry extracts were proven to reverse the common signs of aging. Other homegrown berries, such as crushed Alpine strawberries, are natural bleaches for stained teeth, liver spots, and skin blemishes. However, many fruits and berries are difficult to grow without the proper soil, weather, and care. The Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Fruits and Berries: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply will lead you through the process of starting your own garden of fresh fruits and berries. This extensive tool will teach you easy step-by-step methods for planting, harvesting and caring for your berry bushes, shrubs, and fruit trees. Author and long-time gardener, Karen Szklany Gault, will direct you through your journey with personal anecdotes and case studies from other gardeners and leading professionals, as she provides easy-to-follow tips for mishaps and harvesting the most perfect, personally grown fruits. This book will completely explain the preparation and maintenance that each fruit or berry requires, from pruning and picking, to preserving a pest-free environment around your plants. Furthermore, Gault provides you with reader-friendly tables of exact measurements for planting conditions, including certain fruits and berries that thrive in particular regions, sunlight exposures, and soil mixtures. From the simplest fruit tree to the most fickle berry bush, this book will be your guide to a vibrant garden for years to come.Top gardening professionals around the country have contributed their own tips and tricks for effective growing of your new fruit trees and berry bushes. We\'ve spent hours compiling this essential information just for you, the at-home gardener. Whether you are just beginning or you are a seasoned gardening veteran, this simple, instructional guide will engage you with fun facts and stories, leaving you ready to get your hands dirty. With this book, any prospective gardener can start enjoying the sweet fruits of their labor.

Genres: Gardening

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2010

Reviews

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

My father built our house on my grandparent’s farm and so I grew up with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. I would get on my bike and ride down the lane to pick the cherries right off tree. My aunt had also planted raspberries that I loved to have on my cereal. She even dressed my brother, sisters, and I up in long sleeved shirts and pants in the middle of the summer to go into the woods and pick the wild blackberries. I have great memories and reading this book brought back many of them. As an adult, I have owned a pear tree and enjoyed eating the pears and at my old house in the South, I grew strawberries.


Atlantic Books has a great series Back to Basics Growing and this is the second book in that series I have read. I was again impressed. The subtitle ‘Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply’ is true. The book is well organized and readable. I would suggest that if you want to start growing your own fruits and berries you read it straight through. For the experienced grower, this book has information on graphing, the latest information on pest and disease control and is a great reference tool. If you want to use container growing or are interested in greenhouse growing there is a chapter for you. There are also Case Study sections throughout the book from people in the field giving tips from their experience.


After all your hard work, there are tips on harvesting and great recipes to enjoy the fruit of your labor. Included also are internet resources to help you with each step. The book also has section with the scientific names of the fruits and berries that is helpful when you are looking for specific varieties, a handy glossary and an index that makes it very user friendly. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in growing fruit trees, grapes or berries

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Fruits and Berries” by Karen Szklany Gault is for those who want to add some edible landscaping to their home. Ms. Gault starts off the book by breaking down geographical regions (Pacific Ocean, Mountains, Southwest, Plains, South Central, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes and New England) and discusses the climate and what types of fruits/berries each region can support. On page 50 she has a guide for planting and harvest seasons where she lists a fruit or berry and next to it when the best time to plant and the best time to harvest are.

Ms. Gault also goes in depth on soil conditions and when/how you may need to enrich your current soil. There is also a section about what basic gardening tools you will need. This is a good section that you should carry with you when you go to your gardening store so that you will get what you need. Once you have your tools, then you can go to the chapter about cultivating and planting. The author describes what you need to do to prepare the ground, watering, and other things that will help you have a successful crop.

Ms. Gault does a fine job of introducing how to grown fruits and berries. She gives the reader enough information to feel confident about their choices and how successful they will be. I do wish that she had included colored pictures such as the ones in Back to Basics “The Complete Guide to Growing Healing and Medicinal Herbs”. But that is a minor disappointment compared to the rest of the material in the book.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering the buzz that our earth is being depleted on a daily basis and the food shortages are bound to happen this is a good opportunity to start growing some of our own foods. It doesn't take much room to plant a fruit tree or a patch of berries but it does take some knowledge and gentle care.

Karen Szklany Gault has given us the opportunity to start our own gardens and "grow local." In the beginning of the book she explains the regions and what plants are conducive to those areas. I was specifically interested in container growing because of the soil conditions in the part of Texas we live in and our property laden with huge trees. I did find that I can still grow berries and fruits regardless of those conditions.

This book is a great resource for a beginner. It covers soil conditions and supplementation, pollution, cultivation, planting, pests, diseases, and harvesting. Gault also includes some great looking recipes to use with our rewards. She also provides resources if you aren't able to get some of the items you need locally.

I recommend this book for those that want to learn more about growing their own fruits and berries or those that have embarked on this thought and need additional information. You will not only be led through the process but you will gain an abundance of knowledge.

[B.J. Burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to grow your own fruit in your backyard? It doesn’t matter which state you live in, you can still plant fruit in your yard. The Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Fruit and Berries will advise you on what fruits grow the best in your region.

If you think you can just toss some seeds in the ground and that’s it, you have been wrongly informed. You must first find out what is the best location and soil for your fruit tree. Don’t forget about the sunlight and shade, because it varies from fruit to fruit. There are also dangers do learn about; diseases, insects, and animals.

You’ll learn about the different types of soil, the basic gardening tools, cultivation and planting, and caring for your plants.

Growing your own fruits and berries is an interesting hobby for anyone. The Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Fruits and Berries is full of great information on the subject. There is even a few recipes in the Appendix B section. If you want to learn how to grow fruit, then this book is for you.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skipped a lot of stuff that was boring or irrelevant to me but it does have some pretty useful information about the specifics of growing fruits & berries; I took notes and am going to photocopy some of the harvesting schedules and things. Overall, pretty good book.

[Jeaux Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite quote from this book:
"The next section digs deeper into the world of animal poop to dish about the merits of the remains of a variety of feathered and four-legges friends." Poop!

It's got good info and is generally easy to read.