With plans to put in new fruit trees, hubby and I bought a roll of woven wire fencing to protect the new babies. It's been a long time since we last purchased fencing (1976) and it's really gone up in price. Cost us $160, a lot more than I was expecting. Then when we got home, I called in my order for eight new fruit trees. Ordered four apples, two peaches, one cherry, and one apricot.

I can visualize the fruits already, canned in their jars, made into crisps and pies and maybe to sell at the farmer's market.

I guess by planting a new orchard at my age, I'm telling the world that I'm gonna live forever. Well I just might!!!

"If I knew that I would die tomorrow, I would plant a tree today." Martin Luther King


I am thinking too of a small orchard. hmmmmm

Ive got 4 apple trees that have been mostly "just trees" but I'm working on getting them in shape to bear next years, and I'm thinking of adding some cherries and maybe a pear or two. I'm thinking of some smaller, berry bearing trees/shrubs like chokeberry and serviceberry--any suggestions?? Maybe quince or figs??

In a few years you should have enough fruit to feed an army . Are your cherry and apricot trees self pollinating? We've got apples, pears, and apricots and I know we had to have at least 2 of each for pollinating.

Pogo-

Good question, hope I have all my bases covered. The Reliance peach, Intrepid peach, Goldcot apricot, and Montmorency cherry are all identified as being self-pollinating. As for the apples, I ordered golden delicious, granny smith, red rome, and honeycrisp. Golden delicious and Red Rome are self-pollinating as well as being a good pollinator for other trees. Honeycrisp is best pollinated by Golden Delicious and Red Rome. Granny Smith is best pollinated by Red Rome and Golden Delicious. I do hope Stark Bros is correct, because I'm counting on their info.

Now if I could just talk hubby into getting some honeybees!!

Funny thing about that...I just put in an order for a mini-orchard (14 dwarf trees) from a nursery in TN. We will have to fence them in as well (deer, mostly, but there are incursions by groundhogs and squirrels, too), and protect the fruit somehow.

Some of the varieties we ordered are the same as yours, binnylou:

Honeycrisp and Mutsu apple, Harcot and Moorpark apricot, Early Richmond snd Rainier cherry, Surecrop and Garden State nectarine, Belle of Georgia and Red Haven Peach, Moonglow and Ambrosia pear, Stanley Prune and Damson plum, Apache Thornless blackberry and Cumberland black raspberry.

We made the mistake in the past of ordering fruit trees from out of our area,(California, no less!) and lost many. We do still have one Granny Smith semi-dwarf apple.

This is our chance to "do it up right", I hope. It will be a while before we are harvesting fruit from these trees, but I am willing to wait.

We have several OLD apple trees that we leave for the critters; there is something about watching the squirrels racing up the trunk then down the trunk and into the woods with the green apples that is amusing...also the deer standing up on their hind legs, eating the apple foliage, but of course it WON"T be funny with these new trees!

Any and all advice about fruit tree management in the hot humid summers here in the foothills of the majestic Blue Ridge will be gratefully accepted.

Good luck with your orchard.

Peace

Gail

That is great! The years pass so quickly and those trees will bear before you know it. It is never too late to plant a tree.

Good luck on keeping the critters away.

Nice thread! I caught the orchard bug two years ago... really bad. I started out with planning 4 trees and it turned into a change in lifestyle. I now spend a lot of time with the wifey working on the fruit trees. We are expecting our first harvest next year, God willing...

I planted mostly dwarf varieties of heirloom apples. I tried to stay away from the rather bland in comparison grocery store apples. Though I do love Honeycrisp, it can be a difficult one to grow, I've heard..

The biggest expense is definitely keeping the deer off. We had to throw in the towel and build an 8 foot fence. There was just no other option. The deer absolutely love to eat on apple trees. Trust me, they will DESTROY years worth of work overnight. The trade-off is.... apple tree fed deer meat is delicious

I have some fotos here on this site, but the trees are much bigger now. I need to add some updated fotos. There is also a list of the varieties I planted. I even grafted a few of my own this year. Its a lot of fun to see that work.

Cheers!

p.s. The gentleman I purchased most of my trees from is Mr. Vernon at www.centuryfarmorchards.com
He has an excellent garden watchdog rating and an excellent helpful website..

Peacegarden--can you give the name or url for the supplier in Tennessee?? It might be part of my problem with my apple trees is that I didn't get them locally and if I can find TN grown stock, since I'm in TN--it might be I could get actual fruit from them. I did have a TREMENDOUS crop of crabapples last year, and they make great jelly--but I bought them for ornamentals and wildlife food!!!

WileyR

I am so embarrassed; I did not do the research before trusting Summerstone Nursery in Morrisville, TN (they say, but they are listed as McMinnville by the BBB)

I did not recieve an email receipt from them when I placed my order on the 29th. I was a little upset; when I did a search for them so I could give you their address or url, I saw all the negative (and I DO mean negative) reviews posted on Dave's Garden. The BBB gave them a rating of F.

I will try to cancel my order and check out centuryfarmorchard.com as Thomis has suggested to order plants.

I might seem like an idiot here, but I have had such outstanding results from ordering online that I failed in "due diligence" and now have the unpleasant task of trying to correct my error.

Sorry I can't give you the info, but at least I came accross this now instead of steering you in the wrong direction and getting dead plants in late November when it will be too late to order from other vendors.

Peace

Gail

peacegarden; and anyone else looking for fruit trees please look at millernurseries.com . I have purchased over 50 trees over the years and have had fantastic results. As far as I can recollect, and that goes back to 1972, I only lost a couple of trees. They also have a good warranty. I really don't believe buying local trees matters at all. It matters more that they are planted properly and maintained properly for the first year.

Peacegarden, you are a class act! Good job!

Thanks for the heads up--I know there are some reputable tree/shrub companies in McMinnville, and was wondering if it was from the same area (about 80 miles from me), since I could probably pick them up if I decided--but not if the BBB gives them an F. To a degree I agree with leafspot about the care and feeding of the trees being important, but I do know that some trees can be finicky, and I'm in an area that is too far north for many "southern" species and too far south for "northern" species, so if I'm not dealing with someone in my area I am very careful about some borderline species.

WileyR

We have that same problem here...but there are many heirloom varieties offered by Century Farm Orchards that are well suited to our humid summers (some even resistant to Fire Blight and Cedar Apple Rust). I am sure there are other nurseries out there. Research is needed.

My DH's family is from the Chattanooga area, and his sister is presently living in McMinnville; I was amazed at the number of nurseries along the way from 24 to McMinnville...there may well be some that have what you are looking for; you have the ability to visit in person!

Mrs. K-og, thanks for the praise, although I'm not sure it's warranted!

leafspot, I think when you are as far south as we are, it makes more of a difference...chill hours and such, but I am going to check that site out. I agree that the cultural practices during the first several years are very important, but it can't hurt to have varieties that have proven themselves locally for many years.

I really am most interested in growing dwarf apples and possible some hardy kiwi and bush/cane fruits. I was "dazzled" by the mini home orchard gimmick at Summerstone..we need to decide what we most want to grow, rather than allowing a nursery to pre-select the ratio of types for us. Not to say I am closing the door to cherries, pears and peaches.

I am studying the copious material on the centuryfarm site, and will try to get an order together next week.

Please post any good news you find about that stretch af nurseries on the way to McMinnville, WileyR. We will be heading down that way again this winter and spring. It would be great to pick up a few things while we are in the neighborhood.

Peace

Gail

Cedar Apple Rust is a BIG problem here--and the reason I may take one of my apples out. I do plan to check the McMinnville area this winter, and will post what I find. Not blaming the problems and lack of fruit on the producer--a reputable company--just that I didn't do enough research (before Internet became available to the masses for one thing) and I think one other species I bought probably doesn't get enough chill hours. I think a local provider would have given more input as to suitable variety choice.