I was just browsing through my copy of Glowinski's book last night, so I'll second Don's recommendation of it. But for the American reader it has one important shortcoming, namely that Australia lacks some of the major insect pests and diseases you will face in TN. Perhaps the most important are the insect plum curculio and the bacterial disease fireblight. For example, Glowinski says the Hosui Asian pear is highly disease resistant; it may well resist the diseases found in Australia, but it is reputed to be very susceptible to fireblight here. Another shortcoming is in regard to the varieties: due to Australia's extremely tough regulations on importing plant or animal life, a large numbe of varieties we can readily get in the US are not available to Australians. For example, Glowinski lists only one readily available gooseberry cultivar, whereas over here there are dozens. But these shortcomings can be overcome by use of the web; I particularly like the fruit growing guides available on line from Penn State and Cornell. What is particularly good about Glowinski's book (besides its great readability) is that it is oriented to the backyard grower and manages to hit just the right balance between technical details more appropriate for a commercial grower and dummed down information of little real value to the home grower.

I agree with applenut. Just try it out. There are so many microclimates. I'm really surprised to see on that website that Napa locations like Oakville have fewer chill hours than a lot of Central Valley locations, or even Concord. It always seems a lot colder up in the valley in the winter, and I see much more freeze damage. It's also interesting that there are such wide ranges of microclimates in a small area. In Santa Barbara county, chill hours range between 150 and 1500! And in San Diego county, they range from 60 to 800! Your 850 in Union City is not that much, actually. You're borderline for a lot of apple varieties, and you might have some trouble with those northern blueberries. I figure, it's generally better to get low chill varieties so you don't have to worry about whether or not it's going to be cold enough, since it won't matter.

Hi, Paul. I live in Atlanta, too, and my husband and I do a lot of berry and fruit growing in our yard. Our sunlight situation sounds a lot like yours. I tried growing blackberries and raspberries in our back yard, where there wasn't enough light, so that didn't work out well. But the bad part was the mess it made -- just sprouting up all over the place. Some were prickly with thorns. They didn't grow like a bush, but like unruly climbing rose vines. In our front yard we've had a lot of success with blueberries. We grow lots of varieties, so we get berries over a longer period of time. (You have to mix at least two varieties of blueberries to get fruit.) They're easy to prune, if you need to. Just before the berries ripen we cover them with netting to keep birds away. I hope that helps! - Travis Ward

I've lived here for 15 years, this is just my personal viewpoint. I have a no-spray garden, and encourage predatory insects like wasps, ladybugs, etc. by planting a wide range of ornamental and fruiting plants. Apple- Liberty, Freedom, Spitzenberg, William's Pride (early apple that has much less codling moth damage in my yard). Plums, peaches- lost quite a few which declined over several years and died, no longer planting stone fruits. That said, Methley is wonderful used to have lots of fruit, and seems to be recovering to have a bumper crop this year after a few years with very little fruit. Blueberries- plant a range of early, mid and late for longer harvest. I also like evergreen varieties for pretty fall color and Sunshine Blue, Legacy, and Misty bear well Raspberries- Chilliwack Aronia Viking- very fruitful, no pests, berries all ripen at the same time in easy to pick clusters Paw Paws- took 7-8 years for seedling ones from Burnt Ridge to bear. Tropical taste and texture Mulberries- Illinois Everbearing, Weeping Pears- few pests, usually good yields