"Growing Avocado Trees in your back yard"

Eventually, I found a nursery selling their avocado trees on Amazon for US deliveries and an exotic plant supplier in the UK:

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Growing Avocado

And a UK supplier here: davids-exoticplants.co.uk/rarefruits.htm

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Growing avocado from seed is a fun project for kids and usually produces some sort of foliage. But avocados grown this way don't always take well to being planted in soil when the time comes. So although a fun project, it's doubtful you will grow an avocado tree from seed. You may, but odds are against it!

Start the seed in soil and you may get a result but, as mentioned before, the plant won't produce fruit for many years.

Either graft or buy a ready grown plant for a good chance of producing your own fruit.

Having said all that, avocado plants make very attractive houseplants and can be kept for a few years in the house or conservatory.

Growing Avocado - positioning:

To be honest, unless you live in a semi-tropical region or you have exeptionally long hot summers, you're unlikely to be able to produce a lot of fruit from your avocado tree. But, it's a nice experiment. Try planting a few seeds in water, some in pots and some outside.

And when you come to plant your avocado tree outside, whether you've raised it yourself or bought it ready grown, it will need a sunny spot and as sheltered as possible from the wind and cold air flows during the winter months.

The soil should be well-drained and very rich - avocados are hungry feeders and take lots of minerals from the soil. This would explain why avocados are just about the richest source of vitamins and minerals in a fruit. They really are packed full of goodness, and they pull all of that from the soil.

You will need to feed the plant regularly - always!

Avocados can grow into large trees and, in 'hot weather' regions, you should allow about 20 feet for them to develop fully. Because the avocado is such a hungry feeder, nothing tends to grow well in the immediate vicinity, so the 20 foot spacing area should be allowed.

As with all plants, avocados will grow themselves if given the right conditions :-)...

They need lots of air and plenty of warmth to thrive.

Be very careful with watering avocados. They do need watering but are very sensitive to over-watering. Using a trowel or dibber, gently dig a hole next to the plant about 8-10 inches deep and see if the soil is wet. Squeeze it together. If it's crumbly and a little dry then the plant could use some water. If the soil is moist enough, don't be tempted to water. Avocado roots are very prone to rotting roots and the plant will die very quickly if this happens.

Check on 'pollination' information on your plant when you bought it, or check in your region for pollinating plants if necessary. If you are growing a number of plants from seed you may be lucky and have your pollination already set-up. Some hybrid plants will be self-pollinating.

Protect from birds during the fruiting season.

AND make sure you give your avocado tree a regular feed. Make it organic and make it good! Feed every few weeks during the growing season and a couple of times over the winter months.

Avocado starts flowering very early in the year and produces fruit fairly late. Make sure you pick all fruit before the first frosts. Avocados don't like the cold and a frost will damage the fruit.

Feed the family on avocado. Find some interesting recipes and bring the tastebuds alive. Avocados are a highly nutritional food and a great ingredient for a healthy diet!

Whether you decide on a houseplant or a fully fledged 80ft tree, growing avocado is a wonderful gardening project.

Happy Gardening!

More "Growing Avocado" Reading

www.flower-and-garden-tips.com/growingavocado.html