For starters you need something to keep you excited early and often. Nothing puts a smile on your face like picking your own vine ripened strawberries.
For starters I would go with two rows of Surecrop, June-bearing strawberries. A row of 25 plants costs around 10 dollars.
Next I would turn to the magic of Primocane Blackberries. You can get a six pack of plants for 25 dollars. If you plant them with around 3 feet of space between each plant they will continue to double themselves each year for nearly a decade before you are dealing with serious crowding issues.
Between the strawberries and blackberries you’ve got some early rewards for your patience.
For myself personally I turned to gooseberries because I use their thorny fast growing brambles for a defensive perimeter as well as a snow block for winter drifting. For someone who isn’t married to these notions I would advise blueberries.
You should be able to find 3 mid-bush blueberry plants for just under $12 per plant. Assuming they are carefully planned for cross pollination they should keep a family of 4 in blueberries for years to come.
So at this point you’ve got yourself covered on enough berry plants that will give you a small yield early that with time, thinning and proper care will turn into a pretty significant pile of berries that will carry you through from June straight through to late July.
Now the knee jerk reaction here is to turn to fruit trees next. However I think it’s best to finish strong so I’d say it’s best to finish with the hot and sexy fruit trees after planning some basic nut trees. Now if you live in the southern part of the country in zones 6 through 9 then warm soil loving nut trees like almonds and pecans will probably top your list. Since these nuts don’t grow in my region, I can’t really speak to them.
Instead going from my experience I would invest in two butternut trees. You can get them for around $20 per tree. Two of them will meet each other’s cross pollination needs. They should give you the very first nuts in about three years and will start to explode with production for decades and dozens of feet to come. Just be sure to plant them at the far end of your property so that the juglone won’t cause troubles with your garden or other fruit trees.
This means you now have $180 to spend on fruit trees.
In general you’re going to be able to buy fruit trees for around $20 per tree. Right off the bat the spine of your homesteading orchard is going to be apple trees. I would sink $100 into 5 apples right off the bat.
When it comes to size I would choose three apples that are dwarfs which you can pick by hand through most of the life of the trees. I would plant them south of two semi-dwarf apple trees. For the semi-dwarf’s I would choose a crisp variety that is known for its long term keeping ability.
This now leaves you with $80 for four more fruit trees.
These are the trees that can be your luxury items.
For my money an orchard needs at least two plum trees to give it a little magic. Choosing two trees that benefit from each other’s pollination needs will leave you with two more trees left to choose from.
This is admittedly a tough spot to be in when making your first orchard plan. There are so many attractive options to choose from and once you stick those last two plants in the ground, it means you will have to wait at least another year before expanding your options. And really that means waiting another three to five years before you see fruit from those second choice trees.
My personal pick would be to go with two pawpaw trees. Sure there is a bit of a bias here since I am still suffering the pangs of my last pawpaw failure. More importantly I would pick them because they are a luxury fruit, which needs a little longer than most other fruit trees to come mature. Once it does come into fruit bearing age it produces a large amount of fruit for eating fresh, making into jam or fermenting into a unique and delightful wine.
Getting a head start on pawpaws is a nice investment in the future to pay for your patience on the back end of the experience.