Location and Spacing
When choosing a spot to start your home orchard, it is important to consider three factors – sunshine, soil and spacing.
Sunshine - Sunshine made John Denver happy. It will also make your fruit tree happy. Plant your tree in an location which receives at least a half day of sun. Sunlight helps the tree to produce a prolific crop of fruit. Do not plant your tree in an area of full shade.
Soil - Fruit trees prefer well-drained, fertile soils. Most soils drain well enough to keep your trees happy. But if you have a high clay content, work in 1/3 peat to the soil at planting time. This will help increase the drainage for your tree. Full clay soils and poorly drained locations need to be avoided. Fruit trees will not thrive in wet, poorly drained, low spots in your yard. If your soil is very heavy and poorly drained, you can build a mound or berm with trucked-in topsoil to plant your tree or trees on top of.
Spacing - All of our trees are dwarf or semi-dwarf trees, selected to optimize the use of space and to produce good crops of fruit. Trees should be planted about 12-14' from each other. If you plant more than one row, the rows should be separated by 18-20'. This will allow plenty of space for the tree to thrive. This space gives the sun the opportunity to shine down on the tree. It also provides good air ventilation which helps reduce diseases on your tree.
One last consideration; be sure to consider your future plans when siting your orchard. Allow for room to add more trees. Once you get starting growing fruit at home,you will want to add new fruits to increase the variety of your harvest.
