THIS book is easy to use and gardener friendly.
You do not have to be an experienced fruit grower, or even much of a gardener, to get a lot from McFarlane's advice.
- Organic Fruit Growing: Your Complete Guide to Producing Beautiful Fruit All Year Round, by Annette McFarlane. ABC Books, rrp $35
The simple, direct and no-fuss style makes for a book that is high on teaching and hands-on practicalities.
The first lesson is clear: to grow fruit, you do not need a big garden. You can achieve excellent organic results with a little imagination and, especially, selecting the right variety of plant for your space.
Besides answering the question of why organic, the book gets down to business quickly.
The sequential structure of advice begins with how to get started and progresses through growing all kinds of seasonal fruits.
Significant attention is given to preparing the soil and knowing what the requirements are, including temperature and climate, for healthy and productive plants.
There is advice on container growing in tiny backyards, not to mention espaliered fruit trees in confined spaces. Pests and diseases are covered well and so, too, is nutrition and pruning, companion planting and propagating.
There is also an alphabetical list of fruits that can be grown successfully at home.
The use of tables explaining plant species and climate requirements, pollination and a section on recipes, all contribute to a highly readable and well-researched and presented book.
The many colour photographs throughout are outstanding.
