One of the beauties of having a mature orchard is the fact that with a little work in the spring and some timely care through the summer, you can get a large amount of production for a small investment of labor.
It is easy to get in over your head if you have too many trees that are all ripe and ready for harvest at the same time in the season. Picking, storing, canning or drying all takes time. If you have a large enough labor force that you can tap into in early September, then planning an orchard that ripens at the same time might be ideal. If you’re like me, living with a small family in the country, it is better to plan your plantings to come ripe in succession.
Using my orchard as an example, my June Bearing Strawberries come ripe then go out of season just as the raspberries are ripening. The raspberries and gooseberries begin coming out of their peak production just as the early plums and blueberries come ripe. About the time the last plum is picked the peach trees are ready for harvest and canning. This is all followed up by a succession of apples that takes me through September and into early October.
By staggering the orchard this way it insures that there is always something going on that requires my attention. But there is never so much coming ripe that I don’t have the time to process or preserve it for long term storage.