My Garden Orchard

Picking Pink Lady apples on parents orchard 

This is the inspiration picking Fuji apples

Now the chooks are settled in and looking after them selves free ranging all day every day with not a worry in the world it time to put in my orchard. The year I finished y12 at school my parents bought an apple and stone fruit orchard in Batlow, NSW, I worked full time on it, dad and myself quickly learning what was involved in bringing back a run down orchard into a profitable, productive modern orchard.  Towering apple trees 50 years old or older in the old Vase shape on seedling root stock were slowly pruned in half using chainsaws and air powered pruners & loppers.  Over the next 5-6 years a large percentage of the orchard was dozed the old trees burned and new apple trees on M9

and M26 dwarfing rootstock with the latest varieties, (Pink Ladies, Braeburn, Gala and Fuji apples) were planted using an intensive trellised system. I miss the orchard. So time to have an orchard again to potter in and prune and manicure.

I went up to check my chooks one afternoon and realised there was a perfect spot for my orchard in front of the chook pen between the pen and the citrus trees. (2 lemons & 2 limes, a Kaffir & Tahition).   I measured out the space and staked out three rows 2m apart. The rows could be 8m long with 5 trees 1.6m apart. Fifteen pome fruit trees in my little garden orchard.                    

All pegged out ready to put in trellis 

The posts are 2400mm long, 600mm deep in soil with 2.4m long posts used to connect end post with stay post. A hand post hole digger was used slight smaller in diameter than the posts. A point was cut on the end of each post then driven into the ground with a BIG heavy hand post driver. The posts are NOT cemented but are still very solid. Wire was looped around the bottom of each end post and the top of the next post in.  I used Gripples to tighten up the stay assembly. Each end stay assembly was strained up solid. Then a four wire trellis system was attached to each row. The first wire is 400mm from the ground then 450mm spacing for the next three wires.        

The chooks helping dig the holes during
planting of the trees.

This makes a solid strong trellis with lots of options for tieing the trees to and training branches to. 

Now the back bone of the orchard is set up the fun begins. I get to choose what apples and pears to grow.  I'm fortunate a local in Olinda supplies Heritage apple varieties he has access to over 800 varieties I'm told. Picking 15 wasn't hard! Oh to have some acreage!  Here's a list of the trees I'm getting.

First Row: Corrella Pear (my wife's favourite), Sensation Pear (a full red pear), Cox's Orange Pippin, Rosebury Pippin (an old cooking apple), Elstar (a coxs orange Pippin alternative)

Second Row: 2 Pink Lady, Granny Smith, 2 Red Fuji

Third Row: 2 Royal Gala, Snow apple, Jonathan, Petty's red Jonathan.

The trellis posts ready for the wires to be installed 

I picked up the trees all bare rooted took them home and filled up a container with water and soaked the roots of all the trees. Then I dug holes twice the size the roots needed for all trees. I mixed some blood and bone and a hand full of dynamic lifter pellets into the pile of soil which would be placed back into the hole when planting.  The hole was half filled with water, the tree placed in the hole making sure the graft union was well above soil level, and the hole was back filled making sure the soil was firmed around the roots with no air gaps which could dry out the roots. As the trees were mainly whips all trees were cut off at hip height, with all branches chopped off as well. This will give the roots a chance to settle in and grow, then in spring when they shoot all trees will be uniform and at the same stage of training. All trees were then tied to the trellis to support them.

Orchard all planted with chooks already doing there thing!

I tacked labels for each tree on the post closest to the trees so visitors can read a little about each variety. And now I wait till spring time when these dormant trees shoot and grow.   

I haven't decided what method I'll be training the trees to, Espalier, Slender Spindle, or the Solaxe system are my options. i have time on my hand to decide how I train the trees. Maybe one row of each training method.  I'll go into tree training in spring when the trees start growing.