Lindsey Jensen

You have been so helpful, thank you very much!

Wow, you guys are so inspiring!! Ok, I think I am going to try all the tips you mentioned! Thank you so much for all the general info about pumpkins too. I love growing pumpkins more than anything else and I have a lot of varieties...Musque de provence, jarrahdale, flat white boer, kentucky field, cinderella, black futsu, kikuza, valenciano, Kogigu, long island cheese...yeah...I like pumpkins LOL! Would love to see any pics you have of your award winning pumpkins Deb...or any pumpkin/growing/strategy pics...award winning or not hehe. Thanks again everyone for sharing your knowledge ♥

Thank you for your response Mike. How interesting--I never knew pumpkins could do that. Unfortunately the buckets are metal so I don't plan on cutting the bottoms out. Do you think my success will be short-lived with them bc there are as many as 4 pumpkins per bucket! 🤦🏻‍♀️😄 Meaning, do you think though they look great now, they may fizzle out or not produce anything? Thanks!

Thanks so much for your response David! Do you mean that the vines of the pumpkins will root wherever they touch the ground?

Hey everyone! I have a bunch of buckets I started my pumpkins in & they are looking so happy & thriving! But I'm worried there is not enough room for them in the buckets for them to live & produce fruit, although they are putting on flowers now. If you were me, would you keep them in the buckets or transplant them in the ground? It's getting so hot here now so I really don't want them to die in the heat once I transplant them. Is it worth the risk? What would you do?  

Thanks so much for the inspiration and the photos, both of you! You made me laugh Hester...imagining people tossing cats through the branches Hopefully once we get some things planted I can revisit you both and share some pictures of my own. Again, thank you so very much for your time and wisdom! ♥

Wow, what a wealth of knowledge you both are, thank you for your input. I have so much to learn but I am trying to focus on just doing something!

My ideal orchard plantings would be a mix of apple, plum, cherry, pear. I am still debating whether I want to have nitrogen fixing trees or just include nitrogen fixers in the understory plantings. I would like the trees to be a wide assortment of varieties anywhere from 10-20 ft. tall. I am trying to find more information about final sizes of trees, & harvest periods since that will direct my row plantings but it has been hard to get all the information. I will keep looking. We have quite a bit of room so I don't think that will hold us back. I would rather plant properly than trying to fit too much into the space. We are located on a gentle southern slope and we have good water retention and I am considering making some swales to the north of each row. It is my plan to let the trees fend for themselves after the first couple years if possible. I do want this to be somewhat of a "food forest" but I want to be able to easily access the harvests so there should be room to walk under & around. We have no neighborhood restrictions so that won't be a problem. Deer are a problem here so we are thinking of adding some kind of movable fencing to protect the orchard area.

I have attached an image of a layout that I mocked up. We do get a fair bit of wind mostly from the east. I would like to try to plant a nut orchard with a hedge layer underneath to limit the wind damage to the east (you can see on my mock up). You can also see a our chicken area with our annual garden to the east of that. Where the big green water flow arrow is (north of the annual garden) I am considering putting in perennial berry rows.

I would love to see any photos you might have of your orchards if you'd like to share. Our area is just a hay field now. We do have quite a few old trees that don't really produce edible fruit. It looks like no one has pruned them in many many years and it keeps me up at night wondering if I should prune them, how to prune them, if I should take their wise example (many of their lower branches point toward the ground and the upper ones are upright). This is where my analysis paralysis sets in LOL!

Thanks so much for your feedback Deb! Can you tell me what you mean by spacing the trees correctly? What do you recommend for spacing and is the spacing different when forcing the branches downward as opposed to letting them branch upward? Do you like to pull all the branches down, or how do I know which ones to let grow up, if any? Do you grow anything on or under your trees? Thanks for letting me pick your brain

Hello fellow stewards! I am planning on starting a fruit orchard this fall & wanted to get your input. I recently saw the "Permaculture Orchard" video & wanted to see if anyone has any experience with his chosen technique of forcing the branches downward to focus the growth on fruit production. I was curious how this would affect the tree spacing and also any understory plantings. Would love to hear your input, pros, cons & or if you have other ideas on how you like to maintain your orchard?

We will be bringing in semi-dwarf & standard trees & would like to focus on beneficial multi-story plantings that are still easily accessible for us & others. Thanks so much everyone!

This thread is an oldie but a goodie, so hopefully someone will see this. I was just curious if anyone has experimented with pruning methods used in the Permaculture Orchard dvd? I believe he uses hooks to direct fruit tree branches downward to focus the hormones into fruit production rather than branch production. He says this will keep the trees from growing large & they will take up less space & be more manageable. My main question was wondering if this allows enough branch & leaf production to support the amount sunlight energy required to produce the fruit. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this? Thank you in advance!