Product Description

Inspired by the local-food movement, many Americans are turning their yards into miniature orchards, growing apples, kiwis, peaches, and strawberries. Discerning gardeners—tired of the common blackberry—want something new. Jujube, juneberry, maypop, pawpaw, and shipova are just a few of the uncommon—and absolutely tasty—fruits that can be easily grown in the home garden. Lee Reich has chosen 23 fruits that offer mouthwatering rewards to anyone willing to veer off the beaten path. As useful as it is inspiring, this new paperback edition emphasizes the practicalities of plant selection, cultivation, propagation, and maintenance. All plants were carefully chosen for their ease of care, ability to withstand cold, and flavor. Tips for using the fruits in the kitchen are also included. After reading this delightful book, all gardeners will want to grow and enjoy these uncommonly delicious fruits.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108913 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.19 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 308 pages

Review

“This book is ideal for teaching and discussion.  I can find no weaknesses in it.”

About the Author
Lee Reich is an author, lecturer, and consultant whose books include The Pruning Book and Weedless Gardening. Reich grows a broad assortment of fruit plants in his own garden, which has been featured in the New York Times, Organic Gardening, and Martha Stewart Living.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It is said that if you order strawberries in a deluxe Parisian restuarant, those strawberries will be very small and very expensive (but of course!), but also very delicious. Such fruits are not scaled-down or poorly grown versions of common, cultivated strawberries, but different species of near wild strawberries: the alpine strawberry or the musk strawberry.

Alpine and musk strawberry fruits are expensive not because they are hard to grow, but because the plants are not very productive. This should not preclude growing them in the backyard garden, where flavor is as important as productivity. Fruits of the alpine strawberry have an intense, wild strawberry flavor. The flavor of the musk strawberry tastes like a mixture of strawberry, raspberry, and pineapple. Delicious!

For centuries, Europeans planted both species in gardens and harvested them from the wild. Cultivation of alpine and musk strawberries abated two and a half centuries ago with the development of the "modern" strawberry, which is a large-fruited and prolific hybrid of two American species.