We have a fruit orchard!!!
It’s small at just six trees, but with just the two of us our needs are minimal. It should start to serve us well in two years’ time, with some to share. Perhaps we’ll add a couple more later on.
There are two Manchurian crabapples, two Buckeye Gala apples, one Chinese apricot, and one Early Italian plum. Yum.
They came as bare root trees. The key to a strong tree and plentiful fruit is to get a healthy root system growing in the beginning. The best way to accomplish this is to cut off all the branches at planting. That’s right, all of them. It sounds rather drastic and isn’t exactly pretty, but do you want a pretty tree or lots of fruit? We want fruit. Of course they will become beautiful trees too!
Also cut the tops off at an angle above the bud. They will look like nothing more than sticks in the ground. However, in no time they will start growing strong roots and buds will develop from where you cut the branches off.
We saved the tops trimmed off in a bucket of water and are going to see if they will grow roots. If so, we’ll have more to plant or give away.
Planting a tree sure feels good — permanent, solid, like giving back to the land. Not to mention a muscle building workout. :)
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