At the front of our house facing the main road, we planted seven trees - 'Wilson Delicious' apricot, 'Stark Surecrop' pie cherry, 'Shiro' plum, 'Methley' plum, 'Sunrise' pear, 'Shinko' Asian pear and 'Shinsui' Asian pear. In the middle of our front lawn is an old peach tree that still produces loads of peaches, though I have a feeling it tends to be a biennial bearer. I removed all of the dead branches this past summer and pruned it a few weeks ago to create more of an open center. My cherry and apricot trees are self-pollinating, while I planted two plums and Asian pears to cross-pollinate with each another. I only planted one European pear but my neighbors have an unknown edible pear variety and several ornamental pear trees that I'm hoping will cross-pollinate with mine.
For the most part, digging up our front lawn was not too arduous. We encountered several mighty roots and rocks when we dug near where the old maple trees used to be, but all in all, the soil was in decent shape. Our holes were about 2 feet wide and 20 inches deep. When planting out our trees, we replaced the soil in each hole with high quality soil mix obtained from a local landscaping company and firmed it well. I also mulched the top several inches of each planting hole with some amazing leaf mold taken from the neighborhood compost pile behind our home. We've had quite a bit of rain earlier this week, which I'm sure helped greatly to settle the soil around these trees.
We encountered much more resistance when we went about planting my row of high-density apple trees in a spot to the side of our home where a row of cedars used to be. The topsoil was virtually nonexistent and filled with lots of large rocks and tangled roots. It took us a good 45 minutes to dig each hole and by the time we reached the depth desired, there was nothing but shale.
Here is the pile of rocks we removed from the first three holes alone.
Ideally for this growing method I would have planted un-pruned trees with many short feathers, but unfortunately, this was not an option with the nurseries I'd purchased from. I will most likely miss out on a first harvest next year because of this, but to have apples within two years of planting is still an accomplishment.
Because of the tight spacing, each tree will be supported by a 10 feet length of medal conduit driven two feet into the ground. I still have to tie my trees to the poles and bend down any existing branches to focus most of the tree's energy into growing the leader, but other than that, most of the hard work is now done. I really liked how this project turned out and am looking forward to seeing how this particular growing method performs in our small home orchard. As for now, I can only imagine the wall of different apples that might one day come into fruition.
Good luck on your trees. It sounds like a nice method.
ReplyDeleteThat was a lot of hard work. I hope your babies grow and produce bushels of deliciousness.
ReplyDeleteWow - 14 trees! I'm planning to plant a few apple trees in our front yard this year as well but only 3 or 4. Up until your post, I had never heard of the tall spindle system but it definitely sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteWow, couldn't imagine digging that many holes, can't wait to see your fruit harvest and yummy fruit recipes.
ReplyDeleteI like your planting and your use of the tall spindle system. Do the conduit stakes sufficient to support the trees without a wire tying them all together? Many places suggest a wire to connect the stakes, but I wonder if a home application can get away with just the stakes. Thanks.
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