Gardeners dreaming of harvesting home-grown apples, peaches, apricots and walnuts now have a handy source of online information as they establish and care for their own backyard fruit and nut orchards.

A new Web site called "The California Backyard Orchard," located at , provides the most current information about growing California fruit and nut crops. The content for the site comes from University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisors and master gardeners.

"We wanted to provide accurate, reliable information about orchard crops to backyard gardeners, who are operating on a totally different scale than commercial growers," said Donna Seaver, a program representative in the Fruit and Nut Research and Information Center, which is affiliated with the UC Davis pomology department.

The California Backyard Orchard site begins by helping prospective growers decide whether they really want to invest the time and energy required to grow productive fruit and nut trees. It suggests which varieties are best suited for the state's various climate regions, offers planting and pruning tips, and helps growers fend off pests and diseases.

The site provides information on 20 fruit and nut tree crops, plus a number of vine crops such as grapes, berries and kiwifruit.