General Guides

These guides cover the skills that apply to every fruit tree you grow, whatever the species — how to get bare-root stock in the ground, when to prune, what to feed it, and how to make more trees for free. Use them alongside the plant-specific guides: the apple guide tells you which apple to plant, and these tell you how to plant, prune, and keep it.

Planting

Getting a new tree into the ground correctly is the single biggest predictor of whether it thrives.

Pruning & Training

Shape decides light, light decides fruit — including how to fit full-size harvests into small spaces.

Feeding & Year-Round Care

What to do, and when, across the whole growing year.

Propagation & Containers

Make more trees, and grow fruit where there’s no ground to plant in.

Looking for a specific plant? Browse all growing guides, or use the Plant Finder to match plants to your zone.