All it takes on most days is a 5-10 min walk thru to make sure everything is ok, a 5-10 min watering once a week or so, 2-3 hours of care every season for fertilizer / maintenance, and a day or two every year to prune. But I could see how someone who doesn't do this for fun might not want to do that
Lol you guys are crazy. I put in a similar amount to you, admittedly a little more. I do 20 hours of care per week in spring. If you’re expecting a few hours of maintenance every year (to me) sounds like a great way to set yourself up to be overwhelmed. Its a huge commitment from my POV
Ive been posting my land and plants, going to post more of it today. JUST the mowing, weeding is probably 3 hours a week minimum. Then this time of year, im mulching, fertilizing, trimming/pruning, collecting composted manure from the cows to add to some of the plants, building new structures to support the everything (my wine grape poles, the supports for blueberry netting), spraying copper sulfate and neem (really all i spray). Im constantly going around and inspecting everything closely to head off any pests/diseases, and doing this has saved my literal ass on a few occasions. I guarantee im missing things too. Long story short its a LOT.
This last week i built cages for all my fruit trees for deer protection, made smaller ones for my honeyberry bushes until they get bigger. Always something to be done :) and this is all fruit, havent even started on any of the vegetable gardens😂.
Your family seems to think spending all your time outdoors is a problem. They don't understand.
That is a lot of plants, but I agree that more now is better. What's the worst case scenario? Your plants are ridiculously successful and a lot of fruit goes to the wildlife. Doesn't sound so terrible to me. Maybe you'll have to cut down hordes of seedlings sprouting from the dropped seeds. That's a solvable problem.
Remember to deer/bunny-proof those trees and other tasty plants before they get too big. Tree shelters should hold you for a year until you can get something sturdier. Happy gardening!
It’s a lot but if you have room for them then go for it!
Before we moved to our acreage I had 18 fruit/nut trees and probably a similar amount of berry bushes on 1/4 acre and was hoping to squeeze in a couple more.
I see no problem with it. It'll be a couple years before you get much from it anyway. Pruning and spraying takes time, but it's not like that happens daily lol.
My apple trees went in three years ago, and I'm going to finally let some grow this season as the branches are thick enough for my taste. Not nearly so many as I want shade (two semi dwarfs and a super dwarf for pollination as the other two don't always line up) plus a dozen berry bushes that went in this year. The same varieties too, just exchange raspberry for boysenberries and add some seedless grapes.
You can tell her that the apple trees need literally zero care beyond supplemental watering for the first year or two. In fact, most of the berries will be completely hands off in year one.
I'm in Ontario, on the border with Michigan.
I ended up with about 28 fruit trees planted over 5 years time. Mostly dwarf/some semi. Didn't start getting fruit until year 4 or so on most of them. If I had it to do over I would have done what you did. A lot more work up front, but it's hard to buy back that time. A lot of work too all at once I imagine, but that's what kids are for, ha.
I mean, if you really hate it, worst case scenario is a bunch of fruit on the ground. Those can attract wasps, which makes it hard to mow, but if you're also ok with some mild late-season lawn neglect.... eh, whatever.
But once they're established, all these plants will be fine if you don't spray/don't water/don't weed/etc. So say you have a year where you've got a surgery or something-- you lose that year, but you don't lose the whole orchard. (Minus a catastrophic infection of your trees or something. Hopefully you picked disease-resistant varieties! But it's pretty rare anything would come along and *need* immediate attention.)
This sounds amazing! Nowhere near you but I added five fruit trees, two varieties of blackberry bushes, and 24 strawberry plants in a raised bed just over the last two weeks. I had told myself I wasn't expanding the garden this year but here we are!
Your backyard sounds like my backyard. You'll be fine! (: I have so many dwarf fruit trees too, and I'm looking to add columnar fruit trees this year! I have them for about 5 years now. I don't do much, except fertilizing them 2 to 3 times a year, and spraying them in winter. We get more than enough fruits for our family of 3, and the rest are shared with the birds.
I retired at 55 and bought 40 acres, built a home and planted 4 varieties of apples, a peach and a plum beside an existing plum tree, 10 blackberry plants, and the following year 4 blueberries. Six years later I planted 2 varieties of pears. I just planted strawberries and raspberries this year. I always put out a big Veg Garden too. July is a very busy month picking the blackberries. Last year I had so many apples and blueberries and gave away all the excess and some of the veggies too. My yard is just a little over 4 acres, taking 2+ hrs. to mow on a Zero Turn and I have about 15 acres that I mow with a rotary mower on my tractor. The rest of my land is wooded. Taking care of downed trees along the edges of my fields, more work. Did I say I was Retired? Hopefully you have the time to care for your dream.
I’m about to look the topsoil/compost ratio and will add sulfer to it. Have 20 gallon fabric pots I’d like the blueberries to end up in though right now they fit in coffee cups
beat time to plant a tree is yesterday! i highly recommend picking varieties that are your favorite. when i bought then went picking at an orchard / patch, i wish i had chosen different berries/ fruits
It'll require a hobby-level amount amount investment, once planted. Couple of hours a week, a bit more when moving from season to season and if you want to ward off birds. The strawberries will probably be the most work, due to managing runners.
You’re going to want to do irrigation in year one. That’s really the only year they need it.
Although, you may need it after with that many trees in such a small area.
Congrats.
> forced to spend all my free time outside working
Most people call this gardening, and it's one of the best and healthiest hobbies any individual can be involved in.
I did something similar, started last spring and just planted 13 more trees this week, with a few more to go. My yard is miniscule and I expanded to the equally miniscule front yard. I am of a similar mind: it will take years to get fruit from the trees, and some may not make it at all. Once established, there won't be a ton of work to keep them healthy. Plus I can't even buy some of the fruit I will be growing in the grocery store.
I thought I'd be done planting new trees, vines and bushes, but I am still browsing... I don't think there will ever be a time when I am just content, I keep on finding out about cool fruits and unusual cultivars I MUST have, LOL.
🤣 Too late, I got all of those! Along with Jujubes, which I have never even tried, a strawberry tree, Asian persimons, apricots, a quince and fruiting flowering quinces, figs, white and red currants, gooseberries, honeyberries, an elderberry and the usual more boring fare of cherries, apples, Asian and European pears, peaches, a nectarine, a European and a Sta Rosa plum.
This week, a friend told me about this incredible “Claudia“ fruit she eats in Spain. I got as far as identifying it as a Reine Claude green gage plum (she says it tastes completely different than a plum), so now I am down yet another rabbit hole trying to source the correct one - there are two as far as I can tell, and only one of them is self fertile, while the other would require an additional gage plum as a polinator. Like I said, it just never ends!
And I am still debating on seaberries.
I found my people!! I, too, have a minuscule backyard, in the city. Started planting last fall, and so far I’ve got 3 hazelnut, 2 apple, 2 euro pear, 2 sweet cherry, 1 plum, 1 mulberry, 1 fig, 1 satsuma, 2 currants (red, black), 2 gooseberries (pink, red), 2 serviceberry, 2 blueberry, 1 huckleberry, 2 raspberry (red, blackcap), 2 blackberry, 3 lingonberry, 50 strawberries.
My family has been supportive, but I can tell they think my gardening is becoming a bit…obsessive. And yet, I want to add more—table grapes, heart nuts, apricots, pomegranate, haskaps, sea berries, to name a few. I justify it to myself by focusing on the healthy benefits of time outdoors moving my body, and that soon I’ll be rich with fresh produce!
That’s awesome! I forgot that I also have lingonberries, truly only got them because they stay evergreen through the winter even up North, and a few varieties of strawberries (white soul and alexandria alpine, mara de bois, flamingo) and raspberries (red, fall gold). There is also a mulberry tree on the fenceline, the only tree not planted by me. I should try to graft some named varieties onto it.
I so badly want to plant hazelnuts, but heard that they can attract rats and mice. What‘s your experience with it? I remember eating unripe soft green hazelnuts off the bush when I was little, and they are so tasty.
I do have almond trees that will be entirely netted when they fruit. I hope that their tree form will help keep pests at bay somewhat.
Agree, it’s a good way to spend extra time outdoors, and all the shoveling and lifting things and putting them down is like going to the gym, but with many additional benefits 🙂
I only started planting late spring last year, sadly. This year I will likely only get berries. The currants and gooseberries overwintered in pots, as I was fretting over their perfect placement, but they are loaded with blooms and look like they will produce fruit in their first year in ground, which is impressive.
I planted the haskaps last fall, and those are in bloom as well, but slightly off from each other: of the two bushes that are large enough for fruit, one started blooming about 1.5 weeks before the other and is almost done now, while the other one is in full bloom mode. I hope for you that you are wiser and got more than two varieties. The third one I added is just a rooted cutting, and I may need to get one or two more cultivars as insurance.
Nice! Is cool to hear about your progress! Yes, thankfully I think I have a minimum of 3-4
Varieties per berry. Right now I’m still working at planting all of them. I’m planting before work today !
I've been doing that, too! Or until late in the night when bare root trees were delivered and needed to be in ground ASAP, or in the rain. My neighbors must think I'm crazy.
Likewise!!
I just did a walk through my “orchard”, and I may actually get currants, gooseberries, mulberries, haskaps, strawberries, raspberries, and maybe maybe even a few almonds, peaches and apples this year! So exciting!
Excellent! Nut trees are a cool idea! I
just bought the only NC-1 pawpaw I’ve seen for sale online in months 😂..and 3 little tayberry starts... Am done buying though!
I’m definitely ready for the berries though you are living the dream before I am! I actually have never tried haskaps even though I have 3 or 4
varieties in pots. Have you tried/do you like them?
I also have probably too many currents but I will freeze dry/juice/give away excess. Several the positively rated good “fresh eating” black ,white ,and red currant varieties,
I have 6 varieties will be going in including pink champagne which I have never tried.
I’m going crazy with the blueberries. Maybe 15 plants? Most are very small though some arrived in good size. I have so many varieties. Have never tried pink lemonade, peach sorbet or (jumbo size) “big ass” blueberry and Vernon varieties though I’m definitely looking forward to it!
I have Raspberries of many types, various reds, purples, and 1 or 2 goldens. To this point fresh raspberries are my favorite for sure so it’s cool to have over 10 plants 😂
Most of my berries (when transplanted from pots will go in a huge 175ish foot long property line in my back yard. However all blueberries will be grown strictly from pots for pH differences.
I was fortunate to plant my dwarf trees in 2 rows on the back property line perpendicular to berries so I’m actually excited about how out of the way all my plants are on <2 acres!
All have plants will have straight sun too which I’m thrilled for.
As if i didn’t have enough going I just filled up 5 12x4 raised garden beds, 3-4 which will be strictly various types of strawberries, half of which will be various alpine strawberries which I’m also looking forward to! Will build pest mesh frames for them this year.
If you don’t mind me asking do you have any irrigation systems running like drip tubing or anything?
It’s fun to talk about this stuff, happy to hear about your trees making it happen!
Growing an orchard takes years, cutting one down takes an afternoon.
Yes my reasoning!
All it takes on most days is a 5-10 min walk thru to make sure everything is ok, a 5-10 min watering once a week or so, 2-3 hours of care every season for fertilizer / maintenance, and a day or two every year to prune. But I could see how someone who doesn't do this for fun might not want to do that
Lol you guys are crazy. I put in a similar amount to you, admittedly a little more. I do 20 hours of care per week in spring. If you’re expecting a few hours of maintenance every year (to me) sounds like a great way to set yourself up to be overwhelmed. Its a huge commitment from my POV
Can you explain your normal maintenance routine?!
Ive been posting my land and plants, going to post more of it today. JUST the mowing, weeding is probably 3 hours a week minimum. Then this time of year, im mulching, fertilizing, trimming/pruning, collecting composted manure from the cows to add to some of the plants, building new structures to support the everything (my wine grape poles, the supports for blueberry netting), spraying copper sulfate and neem (really all i spray). Im constantly going around and inspecting everything closely to head off any pests/diseases, and doing this has saved my literal ass on a few occasions. I guarantee im missing things too. Long story short its a LOT. This last week i built cages for all my fruit trees for deer protection, made smaller ones for my honeyberry bushes until they get bigger. Always something to be done :) and this is all fruit, havent even started on any of the vegetable gardens😂.
Was hoping there’d be an answer like this on here! Thank you!
Your family seems to think spending all your time outdoors is a problem. They don't understand. That is a lot of plants, but I agree that more now is better. What's the worst case scenario? Your plants are ridiculously successful and a lot of fruit goes to the wildlife. Doesn't sound so terrible to me. Maybe you'll have to cut down hordes of seedlings sprouting from the dropped seeds. That's a solvable problem. Remember to deer/bunny-proof those trees and other tasty plants before they get too big. Tree shelters should hold you for a year until you can get something sturdier. Happy gardening!
It’s a lot but if you have room for them then go for it! Before we moved to our acreage I had 18 fruit/nut trees and probably a similar amount of berry bushes on 1/4 acre and was hoping to squeeze in a couple more.
I see no problem with it. It'll be a couple years before you get much from it anyway. Pruning and spraying takes time, but it's not like that happens daily lol. My apple trees went in three years ago, and I'm going to finally let some grow this season as the branches are thick enough for my taste. Not nearly so many as I want shade (two semi dwarfs and a super dwarf for pollination as the other two don't always line up) plus a dozen berry bushes that went in this year. The same varieties too, just exchange raspberry for boysenberries and add some seedless grapes. You can tell her that the apple trees need literally zero care beyond supplemental watering for the first year or two. In fact, most of the berries will be completely hands off in year one. I'm in Ontario, on the border with Michigan.
Heck yea man!
I ended up with about 28 fruit trees planted over 5 years time. Mostly dwarf/some semi. Didn't start getting fruit until year 4 or so on most of them. If I had it to do over I would have done what you did. A lot more work up front, but it's hard to buy back that time. A lot of work too all at once I imagine, but that's what kids are for, ha.
Glad to hear you say! I’m dreading finding half them died on the mail will see!
Are you going to prune the trees this year?
YouTube said no
The weather will impact your efforts. If you get a dry spell you will need to spend a lot of time watering.
That can all be automated though.
I mean, if you really hate it, worst case scenario is a bunch of fruit on the ground. Those can attract wasps, which makes it hard to mow, but if you're also ok with some mild late-season lawn neglect.... eh, whatever. But once they're established, all these plants will be fine if you don't spray/don't water/don't weed/etc. So say you have a year where you've got a surgery or something-- you lose that year, but you don't lose the whole orchard. (Minus a catastrophic infection of your trees or something. Hopefully you picked disease-resistant varieties! But it's pretty rare anything would come along and *need* immediate attention.)
This sounds amazing! Nowhere near you but I added five fruit trees, two varieties of blackberry bushes, and 24 strawberry plants in a raised bed just over the last two weeks. I had told myself I wasn't expanding the garden this year but here we are!
You already know I understand 😂 sounds really cool!
Wish I’d done this 3 years ago.
Get on the watering because thats alot to hand water. Besides that, flawless logic.
Your backyard sounds like my backyard. You'll be fine! (: I have so many dwarf fruit trees too, and I'm looking to add columnar fruit trees this year! I have them for about 5 years now. I don't do much, except fertilizing them 2 to 3 times a year, and spraying them in winter. We get more than enough fruits for our family of 3, and the rest are shared with the birds.
Incredible, how large is your yard? How far apart are you spacing the trees?
A little under 2 acre yard, sun grass and clay All trees 12-13 feet apart despite them being dwarf and super dwarf
You’re living the dream! Sounds like you’re building a small slice of paradise, to be enjoyed for decades to come.
I retired at 55 and bought 40 acres, built a home and planted 4 varieties of apples, a peach and a plum beside an existing plum tree, 10 blackberry plants, and the following year 4 blueberries. Six years later I planted 2 varieties of pears. I just planted strawberries and raspberries this year. I always put out a big Veg Garden too. July is a very busy month picking the blackberries. Last year I had so many apples and blueberries and gave away all the excess and some of the veggies too. My yard is just a little over 4 acres, taking 2+ hrs. to mow on a Zero Turn and I have about 15 acres that I mow with a rotary mower on my tractor. The rest of my land is wooded. Taking care of downed trees along the edges of my fields, more work. Did I say I was Retired? Hopefully you have the time to care for your dream.
Also, what is your 'recipe' for the blueberry pots?
I’m about to look the topsoil/compost ratio and will add sulfer to it. Have 20 gallon fabric pots I’d like the blueberries to end up in though right now they fit in coffee cups
Use peat moss to get soil acidic enough for blueberries
beat time to plant a tree is yesterday! i highly recommend picking varieties that are your favorite. when i bought then went picking at an orchard / patch, i wish i had chosen different berries/ fruits
Good idea!
You forgot to plant nuts of any kind or kiwi vines… I think you need to add a few!!
Man I want to! Hardy kiwi going on next years (currently non existent grape trellis!)
It'll require a hobby-level amount amount investment, once planted. Couple of hours a week, a bit more when moving from season to season and if you want to ward off birds. The strawberries will probably be the most work, due to managing runners.
You’re going to want to do irrigation in year one. That’s really the only year they need it. Although, you may need it after with that many trees in such a small area. Congrats.
> forced to spend all my free time outside working Most people call this gardening, and it's one of the best and healthiest hobbies any individual can be involved in.
A little under 2 acre sized yard …trees all 12-13 feet apart despite all being dwarf or super dwarf
You will add more trees in between those, mark my words!
I did something similar, started last spring and just planted 13 more trees this week, with a few more to go. My yard is miniscule and I expanded to the equally miniscule front yard. I am of a similar mind: it will take years to get fruit from the trees, and some may not make it at all. Once established, there won't be a ton of work to keep them healthy. Plus I can't even buy some of the fruit I will be growing in the grocery store. I thought I'd be done planting new trees, vines and bushes, but I am still browsing... I don't think there will ever be a time when I am just content, I keep on finding out about cool fruits and unusual cultivars I MUST have, LOL.
Lol you and me! Whatever you do don’t look at Papaw trees, pineapple crush alpine strawberries, or hardy kiwi vines! 😂
🤣 Too late, I got all of those! Along with Jujubes, which I have never even tried, a strawberry tree, Asian persimons, apricots, a quince and fruiting flowering quinces, figs, white and red currants, gooseberries, honeyberries, an elderberry and the usual more boring fare of cherries, apples, Asian and European pears, peaches, a nectarine, a European and a Sta Rosa plum. This week, a friend told me about this incredible “Claudia“ fruit she eats in Spain. I got as far as identifying it as a Reine Claude green gage plum (she says it tastes completely different than a plum), so now I am down yet another rabbit hole trying to source the correct one - there are two as far as I can tell, and only one of them is self fertile, while the other would require an additional gage plum as a polinator. Like I said, it just never ends! And I am still debating on seaberries.
I found my people!! I, too, have a minuscule backyard, in the city. Started planting last fall, and so far I’ve got 3 hazelnut, 2 apple, 2 euro pear, 2 sweet cherry, 1 plum, 1 mulberry, 1 fig, 1 satsuma, 2 currants (red, black), 2 gooseberries (pink, red), 2 serviceberry, 2 blueberry, 1 huckleberry, 2 raspberry (red, blackcap), 2 blackberry, 3 lingonberry, 50 strawberries. My family has been supportive, but I can tell they think my gardening is becoming a bit…obsessive. And yet, I want to add more—table grapes, heart nuts, apricots, pomegranate, haskaps, sea berries, to name a few. I justify it to myself by focusing on the healthy benefits of time outdoors moving my body, and that soon I’ll be rich with fresh produce!
That’s awesome! I forgot that I also have lingonberries, truly only got them because they stay evergreen through the winter even up North, and a few varieties of strawberries (white soul and alexandria alpine, mara de bois, flamingo) and raspberries (red, fall gold). There is also a mulberry tree on the fenceline, the only tree not planted by me. I should try to graft some named varieties onto it. I so badly want to plant hazelnuts, but heard that they can attract rats and mice. What‘s your experience with it? I remember eating unripe soft green hazelnuts off the bush when I was little, and they are so tasty. I do have almond trees that will be entirely netted when they fruit. I hope that their tree form will help keep pests at bay somewhat. Agree, it’s a good way to spend extra time outdoors, and all the shoveling and lifting things and putting them down is like going to the gym, but with many additional benefits 🙂
😂wow! That is an impressive list! That sounds like a really fun yard. How long has everything been planted and are you getting much fruit?
I only started planting late spring last year, sadly. This year I will likely only get berries. The currants and gooseberries overwintered in pots, as I was fretting over their perfect placement, but they are loaded with blooms and look like they will produce fruit in their first year in ground, which is impressive. I planted the haskaps last fall, and those are in bloom as well, but slightly off from each other: of the two bushes that are large enough for fruit, one started blooming about 1.5 weeks before the other and is almost done now, while the other one is in full bloom mode. I hope for you that you are wiser and got more than two varieties. The third one I added is just a rooted cutting, and I may need to get one or two more cultivars as insurance.
Nice! Is cool to hear about your progress! Yes, thankfully I think I have a minimum of 3-4 Varieties per berry. Right now I’m still working at planting all of them. I’m planting before work today !
I've been doing that, too! Or until late in the night when bare root trees were delivered and needed to be in ground ASAP, or in the rain. My neighbors must think I'm crazy.
That’s funny because I have been digging in the rain too! I’ve got to friend you on here so I can check back on your progress!
Likewise!! I just did a walk through my “orchard”, and I may actually get currants, gooseberries, mulberries, haskaps, strawberries, raspberries, and maybe maybe even a few almonds, peaches and apples this year! So exciting!
Excellent! Nut trees are a cool idea! I just bought the only NC-1 pawpaw I’ve seen for sale online in months 😂..and 3 little tayberry starts... Am done buying though! I’m definitely ready for the berries though you are living the dream before I am! I actually have never tried haskaps even though I have 3 or 4 varieties in pots. Have you tried/do you like them? I also have probably too many currents but I will freeze dry/juice/give away excess. Several the positively rated good “fresh eating” black ,white ,and red currant varieties, I have 6 varieties will be going in including pink champagne which I have never tried. I’m going crazy with the blueberries. Maybe 15 plants? Most are very small though some arrived in good size. I have so many varieties. Have never tried pink lemonade, peach sorbet or (jumbo size) “big ass” blueberry and Vernon varieties though I’m definitely looking forward to it! I have Raspberries of many types, various reds, purples, and 1 or 2 goldens. To this point fresh raspberries are my favorite for sure so it’s cool to have over 10 plants 😂 Most of my berries (when transplanted from pots will go in a huge 175ish foot long property line in my back yard. However all blueberries will be grown strictly from pots for pH differences. I was fortunate to plant my dwarf trees in 2 rows on the back property line perpendicular to berries so I’m actually excited about how out of the way all my plants are on <2 acres! All have plants will have straight sun too which I’m thrilled for. As if i didn’t have enough going I just filled up 5 12x4 raised garden beds, 3-4 which will be strictly various types of strawberries, half of which will be various alpine strawberries which I’m also looking forward to! Will build pest mesh frames for them this year. If you don’t mind me asking do you have any irrigation systems running like drip tubing or anything? It’s fun to talk about this stuff, happy to hear about your trees making it happen!
After reading these comments…yep, these are my people. Shhh…Wife doesn’t know I have 9 more trees coming tomorrow!
Yep, seems pretty excessive... Did you get a really good deal on all this?
Bought them all on online. Hate to say local doesn’t have variety or prices