Pears are a favorite of home gardeners because they are attractive, suited to small spaces and indeed grow best on a lawn.

Peach and nectarine trees grow best in soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. For fruit within two or three years, buy two-year-old 3- to 5-foot trees. Plant them in early spring on an elevated or sloping site to prevent flower buds from being killed by spring frosts. Cut the trees back to 21/2 to 3 feet above the ground at the time of planting.

Prune trees as little as possible after the skeleton branches have been established. It is important that pear trees carry only as much fruit as they can support. Part of the problem of overproduction will be taken care of naturally, as some of the young fruit will drop about six weeks after the flowers bloom. Thin out the remaining fruit, saving the best of each cluster, so that pears are about 6 to 8 inches apart. In many gardens pear trees do not need fertilizer; if the foliage, however, is pale or yellowish green, use 1 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer per year of the tree’s age, scattering it under the spread of the branches. Pears should not be mulched but should be grown on a lawn area where they must compete for food and moisture with grass. The chief reason for deliberately undernourishing pear trees is to forestall damage by a bacterial infection called fire blight that attacks trees that are growing too luxuriantly.

Because peaches and nectarines both produce more fruit than they can support, it is necessary not only to thin out the branches by pruning as noted above but to thin out the fruit as well.

Otherwise the crop may break the branches or be undersized and have inferior flavor and color. Each nectarine should be balanced by about 35 leaves, achieved by thinning fruit to hang 6 to 8 inches on the branches.

Store the fruit in a cool place for one to two weeks before bringing them into a warm, dark room to ripen.Several pear varieties can be grown on the same tree by grafting different varieties to the branches.