June Digging Deeper presentation will focus on fruit trees

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 17, 2026

If your goals include a bountiful harvest from fruit trees, join Master Gardener Tom del Hotal at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden, 2711 Woodcock Road in Sequim, on Saturday, June 20, from 10-11:30 a.m. for his presentation “Orchard Planning and Management on the Olympic Peninsula.”

Del Hotal will share essential “how-to” guidance from his 40 years’ experience in growing fruit trees.

Optimizing your fruit harvest starts with careful planning. Tom will outline how to select the best fruit types and varieties for your property and your family, choose planting options, and identify and prepare the planting site.

The session also will address the best practices for year-round care of your fruit trees, including watering, fertilizing, pest management, and pruning. Together, these skills, applied timely, will contribute to the likelihood of harvesting a bounty of delicious, nutritious fruit.

Del Hotal began his career as a horticulturist and nurseryman in 1977 and was a member of the California Rare Fruit Growers for over 40 years. Complementing his work in retail garden centers, he owned and operated part-time a fruit tree specialty nursery and consulting business, Fantasia Gardens, providing orchard design and fruit tree management services to homeowners and small-scale commercial orchards.

A Certified Arborist and a member of the International Plant Propagators Society, Del Hotal holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and four advanced certifications from the California Association of Nursery and Garden Centers. He also served as a part-time college instructor in horticulture for over 20 years and recently celebrated his fifth anniversary as a Clallam County Master Gardener where he is the co-team leader of the fruit tree orchard at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden. He also is president of The Olympic Orchard Society.

The goal for Orchard Planning and Management on the Olympic Peninsula is to provide participants an understanding of the key components in the lifelong care of a productive fruit tree to build their confidence, whether working independently or hiring a professional.

Digging Deeper presentations are free, open to all, and no registration is required. Presentations are outdoors, so dress for the weather.