Garden #Books Review: Landscaping with Fruit

The Details

Full Title: A Homeowner's Guide: Landscaping with Fruit
Author: Lee Reich
Publisher: Storey Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-60342-096-9
Publication Year: ​2009

I love gardens and I love books.  It is always so pleasing to walk through the library's packed shelves of garden books. The wide variety of books available on gardening can easily keep us busy throughout the winter months here.  With winter wanting to hang on for a little longer than hoped, I've been gardening vicariously through a variety of books.  I always like to try on books through the library first (I think I love libraries as much as books and gardening) before I purchase it.  If I bought every gardening book that I thought looked interesting there would be nothing left over for seeds. 

This book has been on hold for ages and it took me several months to actually get the ability to take it out.  Now that I have my hands on this little gem I fully understand why.  Here are the reasons that this book is going to make it into my personal collection:

1.  New Information - I find most gardening books enjoyable but not all of them contain new information for me.  I was happily surprised at how much I learned from this book.
2.  The Ideas are Accessible ​- there is enough variety in this book where no matter your space, you should be able to take some of the advice.  While I enjoy looking at landscape architecture books, some of the ideas are beautiful but a little unreachable.  Much of what I found in this book can be accomplished by one or two gardeners.
3.  Useful Tables and Tips - I find putting information in tables is the quickest and easiest way to not only find the information you're looking for but also to compare.  This can make one's life so much easier when you're trying to decide which berry bush will work best in your landscape.
4. Practical and Beautiful Landscape Plans - I was surprised to see some of the authors plans were similar to some of the advice I have added to this blog.  I find there is nice balance in the landscape plans that can ensure that you have great fruit and edibles production but something that you would be proud of in your front yard.
5. A Useful Pruning Section - a key component of fruit growing is pruning.  Luckily the author has also penned a book on pruning (from what I can see).  This section is a useful component I see missing in a lot of design books yet it is a critical part.  Pruning is the topic that stops almost all of my customers when purchasing fruit plants.  Pruning is important in keeping any landscape design looking nice so it is great to see it as a chapter in this book.

The author addresses information needs for those across the continental US.  While it doesn't suit all of our needs in Zone 3, some of the additional information is useful.  He also is based in a zone 5 climate so he does speak to "pushing" your zone.  Overall, I feel that this is a great book for any homeowner to purchase, in fact, I think it would be a great book to purchase for those that enjoy baking, cooking and canning as well as it can help those who know little about plants and pruning in general get their feet wet.