Fruit trees in edible landscape

We did quite a bit of work in April that I am very excited to share. First off, I happened to get a great deal on good quality mulch, and ordered 7cu yard along with 1 cu yard redwood amendment and .5 cu yard of organic potting soil. Unexpected rain and unavailability of help to move the mulch was bit of a pain, but we managed to haul away the soil and redwood amendment, and covered up the mulch to prevent a run off. It was a fairly big mountain I must say, much larger than I had imagined it to be.

Secondly, I finally found reliable helpers to landscape the edible section and find a permanent home for all our fruit trees. I had several fruit trees growing in containers, and wanted to move them to the ground. Moreover I purchased a few more this spring and added Kiefer pear, burgundy plum, lapins cherry and arctic white nectarine to my collection. In one of our trips to Costco, we also got a 4-1 Apple espaliered. I had quite a few trees already, and needed to figure out a plan to keep them all. The soil is my backyard is quite clayey, so I had to amend with gypsum and double dig, incorporating potting soil, coco coir and perlite. After planting the trees, I mulched it heavily and overtime the mulch will decompose and improve the soil structure.

Dense planting: I had earlier read about Dave Wilson’s dense fruit planting technique for backyard orchards. The approach made sense to me, as I wanted to try quite a few varieties in my backyard, and yet not be bombarded with excessive fruits beyond what we can eat or share. I studied the layout of my space and decided to group trees based on sunlight, fruiting time, rootstock variety and other such characteristics. A few quick sketches in my sketchbook helped with the final design of the space. I spaced the trees roughly 24-36 inch between tree trunks along the South fence. The dwarf trees were planted along the fence, with ultra dwarf varieties in front of them, to provide sufficient air, and light. I think this method will work well for me as long as I keep them summer pruned. Here’s a link to the dense planting if you are interested to try in your very own backyard. https://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/backyard-orchard-culture.

Microclimate: Much of my backyard growing food is on the South side of the house, and we get a good amount of sun and intense heat for a good part of the day. Its important to study the micro-climate within your backyard to be successful in choosing the right plants to grow. For example, citrus and avocados do not like wet feet, and need protection from high winds. Study the micro climate of your yard by spending a few minutes in different times of the day. When in doubt, try a season in containers before finding a permanent location. Take good notes to refer later. Here are a few tips to be successful in choosing edible plants / trees :

• Sun – duration and intensity of sunlight in your growing space.
• Soil – water relationship: see where water pools when there is rain. Clayey soil holds water and doesn’t drain well. Amend the soil accordingly and choose trees / rootstock that don’t mind the wetness.
• Soil structure – Mine is clayey soil, but has tonnes of earthworms. Though it holds nutrition very well, the roots suffocate as the soil is dense. I double dig deep and wide, and add good amount of compost, gypsum, wood chips, perlite and earthworm castings while preparing for planting. This step is important as we lost 2 years of fruiting time, trying to save a Fuyu persimmon tree that was struggling to take off in the dense soil. We had to finally move it to a container and double dig the entire area with amendments to loosen the soil. The heavy mulch in the entire area should eventually breakdown improving the soil.
• Neighboring landscape – Notice if there are any large structures, trees (such as oak), or hills in the immediate surroundings and plan accordingly.
• Hills, slopes and valleys – observe any slopes and low lying areas in your yard.  I have a small hilly slope along the west side of the property sloping downward towards east. Water has a tendency to pool in the low lying areas during heavy rains. Plants and trees that can’t handle too much water should be planted higher in the slope. Regardless, trees must have good drainage.
• Cold and warm areas – In my yard the SE corner is pretty cool most of the day.  I have a Hachiya persimmon growing here. There are couple of birch trees and a neighbors ornamental plum shading it. The persimmon tree, after 3 years has now started to fruit. While it may not fruit as much as the trees that receive intense sun, I think it will be adequate for our family needs when its fully mature.
• Experiment in containers if you are unsure : When we moved into our home about 3 years back, most of my trees were in containers and some in ground. The ones in the ground did struggle a bit due to dense compacted soil. I had to take them out and re-dig, amend and plant thus loosing couple of seasons.  I took the time to understand the dynamics in my environment before deciding on a final spot. I cannot emphasize how important it is to plan ahead and study your yard’s micro climate before you set out to plant for successful production.

My collection: Here’s the list of edible plants/tree collection in my landscape. My goal is to have atleast a couple of fruit varieties to harvest pretty much all year.

Year round

1. Nagami Kumquat

Spring (Mar – May)

1. Blueberries – starting from May.
2. Strawberries
3. Blenheim apricot (late May – Mid June)
4. Raspberry – Bababerry (May – July)
5. Dwarf Mulberry

Summer (June – Aug)

1. Blueberries – Sunshine, legacy, sharable, south moon, Misty, O’Neal (May – July)
2. Strawberries – Seascape, Chandler (May – Aug)
3. Blenheim Apricot (late May – Mid June)
4. Raspberry – Canby (June – July)
5. Raspberry baby cakes (late June – early July)
6.  Plum
   1. Santa Rosa – June – July
   2. Burgundy – July – Aug
7. Asian Pear – Shishenki – mid July – mid Aug
8. Figs (Aug – Nov)
9. Nectarine – July
   1. Snow Queen white – June end – July mid
   2. Heavenly white nectarine – July
10. Avocado
11. Gala Apple (Aug)
12. Hinnomaki gooseberry (June –  July)
13. Guava (aug – september)
14. Elderberry (mid Aug – mid Sept)

Fall (Sept – Nov)

1. all in one almond
2. Raspberry – red heritage (aug – nov)
3. Pear
   1. Anjou – late september
   2. Kieffer (Sept – mid Oct)
   3. Warren (Oct – Nov)
4. Figs (Aug – Nov) –
   1. Violette de Bordeaux
   2. Janice seedless Kadota
   3. Couple more unknown varieties.
5. Fuyu persimmon (Oct-Nov)
6. Hachiya persimmon (Nov-Dec)
7. Pomogranates (September – November)
   1. Wonderful -Sept-Oct
   2. Eve – Oct-Nov
8. Espaliered Apple :
   Gala – fruiting between August 10 to August 27
   Fuji – fruiting between September 20 to October 7
   golden delicious – fruiting between September 5 to September 20
   Braeburn apple (crispy and tangy, more flavorful than granny smith) – fruiting between October 5 to October 25
9. Pink Guava
10. Grapes
    1. Summer Royal – September
    2. Ladies finger – October
11. Issai Hardy Kiwi (Oct)

Winter (Dec – Feb)

• Hachiya persimmon (Nov-Dec)
• Cara Cara Orange
• Blood orange
• Owari Satsuma mandarin
• Improved Meyer lemon
• Eureka pink variegated lemon

That’s quite a number of trees for a small sized backyard orchard. Heavy pruning and feeding on a predictable schedule is necessary due to close plantings. More on this in subsequent posts.

I hope you enjoyed my journey and explorations with fruit trees in a small backyard, and be inspired to introduce some in your own. I enjoy reading and responding to your comments and would love to hear from you!