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.

Thanks so much for all your helpful responses! I knew it was a good choice to ask here. This espaliering idea sounds very enticing =] I've never heard of it, I'll be sure to read up about it. I really like persimmons and would love to have one, but thought there was no way I would have room for one. Is any particular type of rootstock required for it (semi-dwarf or dwarf), or is a regular tree fine for the purpose? I am attaching an aerial view of my house, right side is North (amazing what the internet gives you these days): 1. Location of presumed apricot tree. 2. Now I am thinking of planting the Red Baron peach in this location to give it some breathing room. I think it would look more aesthetic a little removed from the apricot. What are your ideas? About 6 feet to the right is a flower bed directly next to the wall and I was thinking of also planting a Washington Navel semi-dwarf or dwarf there. But maybe that would be a good location for the espaliered persimmon instead. 3. I was thinking of planting a kumquat in this patch, do you think it would be a good idea? Backyardener, in those pictures the backyard indeed looks dim and wet, but during the day the side depicted gets a lot of sun and is quite bright, and then lawn had just been watered hence the wetness. I'm hoping I'll be able to pull of some of these trees (fingers crossed). Do you think it's possible to prune that old unruly grapevine all the way down to the trunk and re-train it? I'll take your advice and probably use a 4-arm Kniffin training. mudflapper, thanks for the blueberry tips. I'm a little discouraged that they won't have optimal conditions since they seem to be picky plants, but after paying $40 for both of them I'm damn well gonna try getting them to grow. glenn_russel, some really great ideas, I was thinking about raised beds too. I'll have to see just how and where I could implement them. ashleysf, wooooow that is impressive. 25 types of fruit! Thanks for the link, some really interesting ideas on that website with planting four trees in the same area and keeping them trimmed to a manageable size. tagtail, thanks a lot for the fruit tree list! I like the Fuyu persimmon choice, always ended up eating the Hachiya ones early and getting that nasty astringent throat. I'm impressed you were able to tell I have a fig tree in the background. When we first got the house I actually thought it was a guava for a while until I googled some pictures =) So you would pick espaliered fruit trees over grapes? I'm definitely excited about the idea and would like to try it on at least one tree, but I also don't really want to throw all five of my grapes away. Maybe I'll mix and match. How young of a tree should I get for espaliering? I'm guessing rootstock is preferable? Up till now I have been buying potted containers.

Drew51: Thanks for the blueberry link. I don't have my bushes in rows, so the drip irrigation tubing mini-dome looks like a great solution for me, and I already have all the parts I need. RedSun: I was hoping to avoid having to build something, but that was along the lines I was thinking. mrclint: Very interesting, but I think we'r going to have too many of those to be practical. Thanks for the responses everyone

Ken, it took a while but it had set up to a "very soft" jelly this morning. Carol, yes, the input called for does not equate to the stated output. IÂll send off a note to Bernardin to point out the error. Just out of curiosity, what does your Ball version state for jar number and size? Bill