Tree Talk

As Marisa and I anticipate getting a new bigger property we have started to plan what we want to grow. We want a lot of what we had on our smaller backyard farm. A vegetable garden, strawberries, raspberries, chickens, and medicinal herbs. We just want more variety and bigger plots of these things. We also look forward to delving into new areas of farming that we have never tried. We are excited to have bees, goats, rabbits, and fruit trees.

(image is of Maya and her best friend swinging on a dwarf tree, other dwarf trees are in the background, I believe they are Red Haven Peach Trees)

We have never had fruit trees and we are starting to do some research into what kind of trees we want to get. We have learned a lot of interesting things but we are still novices. Here are a few things that I found interesting.

Did you know that apples, pears, quinces, cherries, peaches nectarines, apricots, plums, damsons, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and the rose all belong to the same family? They are all part of the plant family Rosaceae. Don't ask me how to pronounce this. They are divided into sub groups that include those that have stone fruits, like cherries, and plums, those that have berries like raspberries and strawberries; and pomes which include apples and pears.

Did you know that if you plan it right you can have the same types of trees that bear fruit at different times of the year. For example, there are some apples that bear fruit in the late spring and other apples bear fruit in the fall.

Did you know that most varieties of fruit will not breed true from seed. Instead, cuttings from a fruit bearing tree (called the scion) are usually grafted onto a rootstock. The rootstock is a different tissue type than the scion, and the root and the branches grow together but remain biologically different.

Did you know that some fruit bearing trees are full size, but you can also grow dwarf or semi dwarf trees? The dwarf trees are smaller and take up less space on a smaller property. You can grow many varieties of dwarf trees only 6 feet apart from each other. Marisa and I think we might want to raise a small orchard of dwarf trees.

Do any of you have experience growing fruit trees? What advice would you give us as we start the process of planning what types of trees to get for our property. We probably won't start until next spring but it's never too early to begin learning about it.