Introduction

When you are getting most of your own food from the land, the garden tends to get most of the glory. It also calls for the most work. On the other hand, an orchard can provide a lot of food while requiring less work than a garden in the long run.

There are few things more rewarding than watching your orchard full of fruit trees and berries grow.

Keeping an orchard is a long term investment. Most fruit trees won’t even give you a hint of production in the first three years. When you consider that most have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years, it is a great long term investment.

Buying commercially grown fruit comes with the fear that you will be introducing chemical pesticides to the family table. Fruit grown at home using organic methods is safer and arguably more nutritious. With some thoughtful planning your fruit trees can also become a beautiful piece of landscaping.

In-season, a mature orchard is a thing of magic and beauty. Trees that explode with colorful flowers in the spring, yield succulent fruit with nectar-like juice that dribbles off your chin and runs down your arm through the summer and fall. Bumper crops of fruits and berries can often be made into jams, canned whole or dried for trail mix.

I can personally attest that the sound of opening a jar of strawberry jam, made from vine ripened berries picked at the peak of perfection in June, sounds like an Italian aria to your desperate tongue in January.

Speaking from a practical standpoint, after the trees have come into maturity the amount of maintenance they require is remarkably small, compared to a large garden full of annuals.

The following chapters will show you how to plan and tend your own orchard. We will explore planning and planting. We'll dig deep into understanding soil, mulch and fertilizer. We will tackle the endless battle against common pests and look at some of the best options, both common and exotic, for picking the best fruit trees and berry bushes.