Growing fruit trees and berries has been an interest of mine for a long time. Since retiring, my husband and I have spent time planting a small orchard. I am continuing to learn more and more about how to properly take care of it and improve my fruit production.
As part of my learning, I have attended some wonderful classes, and have used that knowledge to improve our orchard and berries. These include classes given at SOREC as community education. I am also always looking for and utilizing books to help us in our endeavor to improve our fruit production.
Last summer our work paid off, and we had a bumper crop of peaches, apricots, figs, and blueberries. They were delicious, and we really enjoyed having them with our meals and for snacks.
While looking for more information on how to improve our home orchard and berries (which include currants, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, Marionberries, and Tayberries), I found a wonderful book with a great deal of information pertaining to planting and tending small fruit trees and berries, “Growing Your Own Mini Fruit Garden,” by Christy Wilhelmi.
In, “Growing Your Own Mini Fruit Garden,” Wilhelmi covers the steps from planning your “mini fruit garden” to caring for and maintaining it. The book contains beautiful photographs and detailed sketches. It even has a chapter on dealing with pests and diseases. This is a book which, I believe, will be a great resource for us in working with our fruit trees and berries.
Oregon State University Extension
