If you could re-do your small orchard / fruit trees area, what would you do?

I'm starting up a small dozen or so fruit trees this year. I have the distances to space them apart, amendments, and other basics I think sorted out. But just looking for any particular ideas or tips on fruit tree areas that you like or don't like. Thinks if you could go back you'd change or make sure you didn't change. Like my wife reminded me to leave a space in the center for a bench and a table. Thanks!

I wish I would have planted more trees from seed in every project I have worked on. The seedling trees I have at yr 3-4 are surpassing the 2-4yr old rootstock I planted around the same time. The seedlings were also on much poorer soil with less done to improve it. I can always graft onto unpalatable but healthy seedlings.

I wish I had planted earlier, and I wish I had planted full size trees.

John F Dean wrote:I wish I had planted earlier, and I wish I had planted full size trees.

What kind of space are you working with? What makes you (now) prefer “standard” trees and what factors were you thinking about when you started?

John F Dean wrote:I wish I had planted earlier, and I wish I had planted full size trees.

How would you get up into those tall trees? Even the 14' ladder for a semi dwarf is pretty tall.

I like the idea of standard trees and have the space but I'm not sure if I could handle picking and processing that much food.

I’d choose site carefully, if you have options. When I moved into our house, there was a vegetable garden near a small pond. I started gardening, added beds, planted a few fruit trees, added a fence. The problem is that it is in a lower area and gets some shade from larger trees near pond (west of garden). Not a problem for berries and veggies, but it has caused problems for fruit trees with late frosts and maybe damper soils. I’ve planted additional trees in an area uphill about 50’ that gets full sun and the difference is noticeable (I’ve got some overlapping varieties and the “upstairs” ones are doing better). I didn’t think hard enough about siting those first trees, and as a result, I’ve eaten less fruit (particularly peaches). Fruit trees teach you observation and patience.

I’d also have talked to more people about sourcing trees, varieties, pruning, rootstocks and grafting. I started out with a few larger (and expensive) trees from nurseries. They were a good start, and are doing fine, but I kinda just let them go and was reluctant to prune heavily. Now I’ve learned to buy bare root trees, and learned much more about pruning (how, when, why). I didn’t believe small trees would catch up with larger trees, but they have. And I’ve learned to take those big cuts on a peach tree to train to an open center. I think fruit trees are kinda like dogs… I prefer to get them young and train them myself.

Another thing is to know who you are growing for… we have nearby family and like to eat fruit and make some cider. I like to bake a few pies. But when I buy apples, for instance, I don’t buy bushels. And yet, in a good year with bigger trees, this may be what you get. So I’ve gone with techniques to keep trees smaller and grafting multiple varieties on them. Ann Ralph’s book Growing Small Fruit trees is a good start, but you will likely need to modify for your zone/climate/soil.

Good luck- it’s a lot of fun to have a small orchard.

I wouldn't plant fruit trees at all.  I've been eating keto for the last year+ and my mini-orchard is the most anti-keto part of my whole food system.

My raised beds are now for low carb veggies.  My chicken eggs are good.  Even the berry bushes are marginally keto.  Much better than the high sugar fruit.

If I can get over the time/effort/money loss of the fruit trees, I'd plant a couple of nut trees and expand the raised bed veggie garden.

My trees are still babies, so take that into account...but here are my thoughts:

I would encourage you to go to your local farmer's market about once a month for a year, even if the food there is not in the price range that you typically buy, and pick up a few pieces of fruit that you haven't tried before. I think that I might have tried slightly different varieties or types of fruit (such as more evergreen fruit trees) after trying different locally grown fruits.

In hindsight, I also should have checked the exact recommended chill hours from multiple sources, rather than relying on the nursery to tell me which trees were "low-chill".

I did intentionally plant some fruits that are more expensive to try to save on groceries. If I was to do it again, I might focus only on the higher priced fruit. What I realized was that price in the grocery store has practically no correlation to ease of growing in my climate zone. For example, if I tried to grow apples I would have only a couple of low-chill varieties to choose from, and they need a significant amount of water. In contrast, I bought a box of pomegranates for my family at Costco and realized I could buy a drought friendly, bare root pomegranate tree for about the same price. Don't rule out any type of fruit till you do a little research.

I planted one nut tree that is not ideal for this climate, but that if it works out it will provide nuts that that will not need complicated harvesting or processing. That is one thing I definitely don't regret--planting only fruiting trees where the fruit can be eaten straight off the tree, and keeping them pruned small. Life has gotten busier since I planted them, and it's nice to be able to go out and enjoy doing tree stuff when I have time, rather than feeling stressed about what the trees need done.

Cujo Liva wrote:

If I can get over the time/effort/money loss of the fruit trees, I'd plant a couple of nut trees and expand the raised bed veggie garden.

If any of your fruit trees are stone fruit, could you graft almonds onto them? I'm not 100% sure if it would work, or if almonds grow in your area. If it did work you might be able to do it for free if anyone near you is pruning their almond tree and willing to share the trimmings.

I would fence it