Grow Great Fruit Program Options
Essentials
MOST POPULAR- 12-month course
- Weekly classes
- Workbook
- Seasonally timed content
- Downloadable resources
- Free Masterclasses
Premium
FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS- Everything in Essentials, plus…
- Personalised, one-on-one support
- Monthly Q&A sessions
- Exclusive members forum
- Free access to short course library
- Hard copy workbook
Both options have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
“Grow Great Fruit has for years been one of the best online resources for helping those growing fruit in the suburbs and across our rural hinterlands to crank up their household economy with greater abundance.
In the process, many have become producers for their local communities.
The relaunched website and programs are now even better; a great resource for those wanting to skill up or start from scratch as fruit producers.”
— David Holmgren co-originator of Permaculture
Grow Great Fruit—finally, the fruit tree course you’ve been waiting for…
You’ve got fruit trees, but your results have been less than fantastic, right?
You don’t always get fruit, and when you do it’s often spotty, or eaten by pests. Maybe your trees are unhappy, or don’t grow properly?
Are you worried that you’re pruning the wrong way, or just sick of feeling like you don’t know what to do, or where to get information you can trust?
We hear you.
We know what it’s like to try to grow fruit with no water, or to have trees die in a flood. We’ve tasted the bitter tears of disappointment at watching our beautiful fruit be ravaged by birds, possums, or some mysterious thing!
We’ve puzzled over sick trees, diseased fruit, and dodgy-looking leaves, wondering what on earth’s going on. And we’ve looked on in horror as plagues of locusts have eaten every leaf, or swarms of insects have sucked our peaches dry.
Throughout it all, we looked high and low for information we could trust, and someone we could work with to help us learn.
We’re Hugh and Katie Finlay, and we’ve grown great organic fruit for a living for 20 years. Eventually, after years of learning, problem-solving and hard yakka, we got pretty good at it. You could even call us the organic fruit growing specialists.
So we put together the Grow Great Fruit system to show you how to keep your trees happy, healthy and productive.
There’s a huge amount to know about growing great organic fruit.
Designing your garden, planting trees in the best spot, and choosing the right varieties. Trying (and often failing) to prevent pest damage. Protecting fruit from weather and disease. Pruning, picking at the right time, preserving …
…the list is endless!
And then there’s the mystery disasters. Your fruit splits, or falls off. Trees don’t flower. Or they do flower, but don’t have fruit. Leaves get spots, bugs appear, fruit mysteriously disappears…
Trees die, for no apparent reason.
Hail storms, bird attacks, droughts, heatwaves, fires, floods …
We’ve been growing organic fruit on our farm in central Victoria (Australia) for over 20 years, so we’ve seen it all. If you’ve been through even a fraction of these problems, we feel your pain. Even for experienced gardeners it can be very frustrating, and sometimes it just all seems too hard.
But don’t give up!
As professional, certified organic fruit growers we’ve had to find solutions to all these problems. In fact, feeding our kids depended on it! Over the years, we’ve learned how to prevent many problems happening in the first place.
We can show you how to get fruit trees productive as quickly as possible. We know how to protect them against drought, flood, pests, diseases and weather—how to expect the unexpected, in other words.
We’ve developed a foolproof system for protecting your crop against the inevitable and predictable risks, and we’re here to help you get better at fruit growing.
Along the way you’ll also get better at garden design, soil health, making compost, preserving, loving your weeds, building biodiversity and probably even expanding your food-growing expertise to other crops!
Program Features
Course Materials
Resources
Support
Essentials
Pay by month
Course Materials
Resources
Support
Essentials
Annual
Course Materials
Resources
Support
Premium
Pay by month
Course Materials
Resources
Support
Premium
Annual
Course Materials
Resources
Support
We have been thankful for Hugh and Katie’s (Grow Great Fruit mentors) knowledge and support through the challenges, and being able to put the knowledge we have been gaining from our Grow Great Fruit Members course into action.
I signed up for the weekly tips and watched the webinar. Was bit skeptic to sign up to your program but decided to have a go. WISH I DONE IT YEARS AGO I CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR YOUR HELP!!!
Introducing the Grow Great Fruit Home-Study Program
Want to know exactly what you get? Here’s the full curriculum (and it’s all backed up with support from us, no matter what level you choose).
Planning your home orchard and climate
Permaculture design principles
Microclimates
Site location
Fruit self-sufficiency
Selecting the right varieties
Pollination
Frost
Chill factor
Pest and disease know-how
Organic principles
Identification and life-cycles of common pests and diseases
Prevention and treatment
Biodiversity
Organic spray diary
Spray equipment
Pruning
Establishment
Maintenance
Renovation
Pruning different fruit types
Espalier
Equipment
Water and irrigation
Setting up an irrigation system
Drought
Flood
Using grey water
Soil and nutrition
Soil health
Soil testing
Soil food web
Microbes
Compost
Compost tea
Worm farms
Green manures
Understanding weeds
Feeding your trees
Diagnosing nutrition problems
Planting and looking after young trees
Site prep
Choosing the right trees
Planting techniques
Tree guards
Tree care
Orchard management
Thinning
Orchard hygiene
Monitoring and feedback
Growing your own trees from scratch
Budding
Grafting
Growing rootstocks from seed or cutting
Preserving the harvest
Picking at the right time
Correct storage
Preserving techniques
Recipes
Avoiding waste
Resources
Weekly classes
Article index
Fruit tree database – searchable
Organic resource pack
Monthly Q&A session replays
E-textbooks
Tech help desk
Masterclasses from guest experts
Workbook
Lifetime access to course materials
Immediate access to all course content with annual memberships
Premium member resources
Live monthly Q&A online sessions
Workbook hard copy
Welcome questionnaire
Introductory consult
Priority help desk
Personal coaching calls with Hugh and Katie
Free access to short course library
Exclusive members’ forum
Today I looked at Win in amazement – I had suddenly realised we have an orchard with NO (repeat, NO) leaf curl! Can hardly believe it ‘cos we used to have every leaf of every tree curled into corkscrews – and then fall off.
Thank you so much for your patience in getting us to this point. Our success is due to the two of you patiently reiterating “There are no wrong pruning cuts, but there are consequences” and “You need to have a protective cover on your trees if any rain is forecast” over and over!
I LOVE having an overall program of information and answers to questions and explanations, and all I have to do is work and learn! Thank you again for so generously sharing your knowledge.”
I would like to congratulate Hugh and Katie on the fantastic way they present so much information and inspiration!
One of the things you’ve taught me about thinning is that it helps to ensure you get fruit every year—we’ve got apricots, peaches, nectarines and almonds all fruiting.
It’s so exciting. My next job is to net them so we can enjoy the harvest rather than the birds. Thanks, Matt
Here’s a sneak peek at the e-textbooks you’ll receive when you join your course (Gold and Premium members)
What’s that Spot?
Identify and treat more than 25 common diseases and conditions of deciduous fruit trees, including strategies for avoiding all the common diseases.
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- how to identify diseases and understand life-cyles
- learn strategies to prevent and avoid common diseases
- how to avoid damage from sunburn, frost and nutritional problems
- the keys to preventing fungal diseases
- how to make your own organic sprays
- recommended spray schedules for each type of fruit
- 69 pages, more than 100 high-definition colour photos
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What’s Bugging My Fruit?
Features more than 15 common pests of deciduous fruit trees. Includes a description of each pest, the damage it does, its lifecycle and a range of strategies for prevention, control and treatment.
Features:
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- the 8 key steps to organic pest control
- identifying predator insects
- demystifying common “off-the-shelf” organic insecticides
- how to make your own organic insecticides
- more than 40 pages, over 60 high-definition colour photos
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Pruning by Numbers
Includes apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples and pears. It’s based on the idea that when it comes to pruning there’s no right or wrong, just pruning cuts and consequences. Like all our teaching resources, we think it’s more useful to teach basic principles so you can learn how to apply them in any situation.
Features:
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- parts of a fruit tree
- basic aims of pruning
- the 10 Key Pruning Principles
- how to decide the right shape for your tree
- step-by-step pruning instructions for different types of fruit trees
- the difference between summer and winter pruning
- pruning dwarf trees
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Water for Fruit
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- learn how to monitor your fruit tree’s water needs
- creating a diversity of supply from multiple sources
- storing water efficiently in your soil
- how to create a more automatic your watering system
- planning your irrigation system to have enough capacity
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Grow Great Fruit Home Study Program FAQ
Q: How soon will I experience results?
A: Well, of course fruit growing is seasonal, and fruit trees only produce one crop a year. But your fruit trees need attention throughout the year, especially when we’re talking about building healthy soil, planting trees and that sort of thing.
So what we find is that people start getting more confidence immediately from the first week, because if you become a Gold or Premium member, the information you get straight away, and then every week after that, is the right information for that time of year. So you don’t have to wait a whole year to see if the system is going to work, the confidence starts building pretty quickly.
We’ve also had members go from bare paddock to trees that are ready to start bearing great organic fruit in just one year, so while we don’t want to make it sound too easy, it’s certainly possible to get amazing results when you apply everything you learn in the program.
Q: Can I share the Grow Great Fruit Home-Study Program with my partner?
A: Of course you can share it with your family, it’s easier and more fun to put this into action if you’re working with someone else. However, we would ask that you don’t share the information outside your own family—we’d rather you recommend your friends join our community as well. Non-members also won’t be able to access the Members’ Home Page.
Q: What happens when I click on the “Select Your Course Now” button?
A: That will take you to our online shop, where you can select the level of membership that will suit you. From there you go through the checkout process, and choose to pay with Paypal or Stripe, which we use as our payment gateways because they offer a secure service, and it means your payment details are kept safe. Once you’ve made your initial payment, you’ll be transferred to the Grow Great Fruit website to get access to the Members’ Home page. You’ll also be sent your very first e-class. From the Members’ Home Page you can start learning straight away by reading the e-books, watching Masterclasses, downloading the Organic Resource Pack, and checking out the other great member-only resources.
Q: Will I get value if I only have a few trees?
A: Yes indeed! You’re one of the main people we had in mind when we wrote the program. In fact, you can get the most value out of it, because the fewer trees you have, the more important it is that you get good results. If you have a lot of trees you can more easily carry mistakes and failures, because you’ll probably still get some fruit. However, if you have less than 10 trees, say, it’s much more important to get those trees really productive and fruitful as fast as possible, so you’re getting a good return on the time you put into them.
Q: Does the program finish after 1 year?
A: Many of our members choose to stay beyond the first year because they find the weekly reminders about what jobs they should be doing really useful. They also want continued access to the Grow Great Fruit community as they gain skills and confidence. It’s essentially a year-long program, but we have many members who have chosen to stay with us for more than 2 years, and some life members. There’s also a graduate program you can move to, which we make available after 1 year.
Q: Do you do site visits?
A: We’d love to, but with members all over the country, it’s not a service we can offer. However, the one-on-one consultations for Premium members can work in the same way. We can do the consultation on a video platform (like Zoom). You can take us into your garden or orchard on your smartphone or another device (as long as your signal is good enough), so we can look at specific trees. We’ve given many ‘virtual’ pruning lessons that way!
In this course you’ll get the tools you need to help you achieve success. Here’s what’s in the Organic Resource Kit:
Fruit tree diary
Do you have trouble remembering from year to year what happened in your garden? One of the key strategies we teach is how to become a garden ‘detective’ – for example, if you can figure out whether your lack of crop was caused by frost or disease, you’re half way to finding the solution! This is the perfect tool to keep track of your fruit trees, year after year. It is the tool that professional growers use to improve their performance, adapted to help you achieve the same success. You’ll be guided how to monitor and record all the key dates and events in the life of your fruit tree.
Fruit tree garden planner
The Grow Great Fruit program is all about planning your garden so that it can provide you and your family with as much fruit as you want. This planner walks you through the process of planning your fruit tree garden to meet your needs, including:
- deciding which types of fruit trees – and how many of each type – you need
- choosing the right varieties for your garden, climate and purpose
- designing your perfect fruit tree garden
Simple pruning guide
Are you struggling to make decisions about how to prune your fruit trees? Do the trees in your garden look different to the ones in the gardening books you read? This simple pruning guide is set up for you to print and laminate, or to load onto your smartphone for easy reference whenever you’re outside with secateurs in hand.
- The 10 basic pruning principles that apply to every fruit tree and make pruning easy
- How to establish ‘vase’-shaped trees in your garden for ease of care and picking, and maximum productivity
- How to prune young trees when you plant them to set your fruit trees up properly from the word go
- Maintenance pruning – the 6 steps to keeping your established trees healthy and fruitful
Global climate zone maps
Deciduous fruit trees grow in the temperate zone of every continent in the world (except Antarctica) but some types of trees do better in some zones. No matter where you live in the world, this easy-to-use set of maps allows you to identify your growing zone and other factors that help to take the guesswork out of choosing the right fruit to grow in your area.
- What climate conditions a fruit tree needs to thrive and produce fruit
- Chill hours – what they are, and how they affect deciduous fruit trees
- Climate zones, hardiness zones, and heat zones
- Micro climates, how they affect fruit trees and how to create them to grow fruit trees outside their preferred zone
What’s so great about growing your own great organic fruit?
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- it’s satisfying – having the skills to grow your own food brings a sense of security. It also feels very natural – it’s what life’s supposed to feel like
- saves money – you’ll soon know you how to provide most or all of your family’s annual fruit supply by growing and preserving
- increases organic food in your diet – the price of organic food is a barrier preventing many people eating the organic diet they yearn for. Growing your own changes that forever
- good for physical and mental health – the science is in. Being connected to nature and working outdoors boosts your immune system, lifts your spirits, and gives you the exercise you need
- mitigates climate change – growing food in healthy soil, even on a small scale, is one of the most effective ways of getting carbon back in the soil where it belongs
- reduces food miles – it’s not far from your garden to your kitchen
- builds life-long skills – you only have to learn these skills once, then you can help pass them on to the next generation
- fun – growing your own food is a wonderful hobby, and for many, a lifetime passion
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Introducing us
If you haven’t met us before, we’re a husband and wife farming team. We’ve being growing fruit on our organic family farm since the 1990s (and Katie grew up here). Before that, that Hugh worked as a travel writer for Lonely Planet, and Katie ran her own business in the city. Head over to the About Us page to find out more about our backstory.
Man I can’t tell you how stoked I am to have come across this course! I’ve been practicing permaculture farming in Middle Georgia for almost 6 years now and have implemented 100’s of fruit trees and shrubs into my system over the years. And I’ve taken a permaculture certification course taught by my hero Jeff Lawton (man you Aussies are good!), but that course paints in broad strokes and lacks a specific in-depth teaching of fruit tree growing that I’m looking for. This course will make an excellent complement to that or any other permaculture course…especially for those of us who want to take our fruit tree game to the next level. Thank You guys from the bottom of my heart for providing such valuable information at such a reasonable cost!
Who is the course suitable for?
You’ll benefit from this program if you fit into any of these categories:
- want to establish a productive orchard as quickly as possible
- already growing, or wanting to grow, your own fruit at home
- a garden professional or horticulture/permaculture educator
- renting, but have a dream to buy your own house or land
- look after fruit trees in the community
- already grow, or are thinking of growing, great organic fruit commercially
What’s different about this course?
- The year-long program steps you through the workbook provided to create an annual plan for your fruit trees
- We’re fruit-growing professionals, not gardeners or hobby farmers
- We have a user-friendly index, so you can easily find answers when you need them
- You become part of an inclusive and friendly community of like-minded fruit growers
- You get access to us, in a variety of formats
- The information is appropriate to the time you receive it
- We tell you what you need to know, just before you need to know it
- Our teaching is clear, logical, simple and principles-based.
As a permaculture trainer, I really appreciate the comprehensive set of fruit-growing e-books, courses, and other resources that Katie and Hugh have put together. I direct my students to their material as I believe it is the best place to learn how to grow great fruit.
The resources cover all aspects of fruit growing and management from the soil up – with a holistic context, and without the use of industrial chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides.
Not only do Katie and Hugh have many years of practical experience running an organic orchard, but they also spend time updating their own knowledge through research, experimentation, and visits and networking with other growers. I consider them experts in their field – and they are able to impart this knowledge in a clear and engaging manner!
“The best time to plant a fruit tree and learn how to grow fruit was 20 years ago. And the second best time is now.”
We look forward to you joining our guided, proven system that gently builds confidence, skills and understanding of your fruit trees and the environment, all within a supportive community.
Let’s get this party started…