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Product Description Here's hands-on advice from a professional horticulturist and experienced fruit grower to help gardeners create an edible landscape. The Backyard Berry Book provided all the information that backyard gardeners need to grow strawberries, rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, lingonberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, and kiwi fruit. Includes details on soil nutrition and testing; disease, pest, weed, and bird control; and trellis design. A trouble-shooting section and seasonal activity calendar will help ensure success. Amazon.com Review In the late 20th century, unfortunately, berries are seen primarily in the supermarket at certain times of year, and while this is welcome, it used to be that everyone had a few berry bushes in the backyard: some currants, some gooseberries and a few rhubarb plants. Stella Otto explains how to bring this tradition back and raise lush crops of berries and fruit with pointers on soil nutrition, plant nutrients and mulching that will make your home-grown berries the envy of folks who only see them in the supermarket. This mouth-watering book will get you going. From Booklist Otto focuses on what she calls small fruit, fruit that does not grow on trees but as a cultivated, perennial crop on small plants, canes, bushes, or vines--strawberries, rhubarbs, brambles (raspberries and blackberries), blueberries, lingonberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, and kiwi fruit. She begins with a chapter on site selection and preparation, continuing with chapters on plant selection and propagation; berry botany; soil nutrition, photosynthesis, and water; pest control; and diseases. Chapters detailing the growing of these small fruits complete the book, along with troubleshooting questions and answers, a seasonal activity calendar, and a glossary. George Cohen Review Booklist-Otto focuses on what she calls small fruit, fruit that does not grow on trees but as a cultivated, perennial crop on small plants, canes, bushes, or vines--strawberries, rhubarbs, brambles (raspberries and blackberries), blueberries, lingonberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, and kiwi fruit. She begins with a chapter on site selection and preparation, continuing with chapters on plant selection and propagation; berry botany; soil nutrition, photosynthesis, and water; pest control; and diseases. Chapters detailing the growing of these small fruits complete the book, along with troubleshooting questions and answers, a seasonal activity calendar, and a glossary. (George Cohen) "If you're dreaming of harvesting mouth-watering small fruits in your own backyard, ...read this book! If you're already trying small fruit production and harvesting a peck of problems, ...read this book. Stella Otto tells you how to grow the familiar and the more exotic, for big results in a little space." --Jan Riggenbach, columnist Midwest Gardening and Midwest Living magazine About the Author Stella Otto got her first taste for fruit growing during annual family outings to the U-pick orchards of western Massachusetts. Following receipt of a B.S. in horticulture from Michigan State University, she worked at one of largest tree fruit nurseries in the U.S and a major tart cherry orchard near Traverse City, MI, before she and her husband eventually started their own diversified fruit farm in northern Michigan. Stella has authored two books, the award-winning The Backyard Orchardist, and The Backyard Berry Book. She has written freelance articles for numerous magazines, appeared on the Discovery Channel, and been interviewed on NPR and other gardening radio programs. Stella presently cultivates a fruitful family garden and enjoys her horses on a 10-acre homestead in northern Michigan. She can also be found cultivating fruit gardening information on her blog The Backyard Fruit Gardener at www.stellaotto.com.