How To Plan An Orchard On The Site

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Orchard planning

Many gardening tutorials recommend choosing a flat area or an area with a slight slope to the south or southwest side for your garden. Such areas are better illuminated by the sun, in spring they are freed from snow faster, and the soil warms up faster.

To create a garden, areas in the lowlands are most often unsuitable, especially of a bowl-shaped form, where cold air accumulates and stagnates, and in spring and autumn, stronger and more frequent frosts are possible.

The proximity of a natural reservoir (river or lake) is favorable for the growth of fruit trees. This increases the humidity of the air, softens sharp temperature fluctuations, especially during morning frosts, and creates a favorable microclimate for plants.

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Protection of garden trees from the wind is necessary, especially from the north and east side. It is good if there is a forest or a strip of trees on this side.

However, as you know, in our country the majority of future gardeners do not choose a site, but are content with what they "got". What if the site is not quite suitable for the cultivation of an orchard? In this case, you will have to develop the site yourself and cultivate the soil. This is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. Take advantage of all the advantages of the site and, if possible, weaken its disadvantages.

When drawing up a site plan, first of all, you should determine the location of the house and outbuildings. If there is already a house or any other structures on it, you can determine a place for a garden and a vegetable garden, focusing on them. The garden is usually placed closer to the house, on the north side, to protect the entire area from cold northerly winds.

Tall trees (apple, pear) are located on the north, north-west or north-east side of the site. On the southern or southeastern side, there are undersized fruit trees, bushes and berries. Plants are arranged so that their height increases in the direction from south to north. The placement of trees in the garden should be free and not obstruct the movement of air.

Tight planting on all sides of the site prevents the outflow of cold air, which increases frosts in early spring or late autumn and prevents the accumulation of snow cover in winter. Each garden has its own planting density, which depends on which rootstocks the trees are grafted on, how their crowns are formed, what kind of soil is in the garden, what is the fertilization and irrigation regime. Before you start laying a garden, you should select the right varieties that will give the fruit of the desired quality.

Fruit trees should start bearing fruit relatively early, be resistant to frost, diseases and pests.

The choice of a variety depends entirely on the tastes and needs of the gardener. Of course, the most tested in all respects are old, well-known varieties, such as Vinnoe, Antonovka, Cinnamon striped, Korobovka, White filling and others. The most frost-resistant are still considered various types of whale.

But when choosing varieties for your garden, it is still better to choose new varieties that have been tested in the field conditions of the Northwest.

I think that it is most correct to go to fruit nurseries in the cities of Pushkin or Pavlovsk and buy varieties there that are in no way inferior to our old acquaintances, but surpass them in resistance to disease and frost resistance.

Let me remind you that you should not plant more than three different varieties of summer ripening in the garden, since their fruits cannot be stored for a long time and are practically unsuitable for processing.

It is best to take early autumn varieties for processing, it is from them that the most delicious compotes, marmalades and preserves are obtained.

For long-term storage, if you have conditions for this, late autumn and winter varieties are suitable. Some new items can be stored without loss until the next harvest. But a garden is not only a selection of varietal plants! First, you should cultivate the soil, fill it with fertilizers, get rid of weeds.

Trees are located in relation to each other at an optimal distance, which depends on their natural characteristics: as adults, trees should not shade each other, but should have free space between the crowns, which, when fully developed, cannot be less than half a meter. Therefore, a distance is left between the rows equal to the height of the tree crowns in an adult state, not counting the boles.

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By pruning the crown of trees on tall rootstocks, you can significantly reduce the height of the tree and expand the crown, stimulating the formation of new shoots. But if you allow them to stretch up too much, this will lead to lower yields and a deterioration in the quality of the fruit.

The places most protected from cold winds are reserved for apple trees on dwarf rootstocks and plums. They can be planted near the walls of the house or near the fence from the side of the forest.

Stans are planted on an area that will be covered with a large layer of snow in winter. Plum and felt cherries, on the contrary, are planted where snow does not accumulate excessively. With a high snow height, they may have podoprevanie bark in the zone of the root collar.

Plum bears fruit better on light, well-drained chernozems and sandy loam soils with the addition of humus. For better pollination of flowers, it is recommended to plant two trees of different varieties.

An apple tree on vigorous rootstocks can be placed on the side of the prevailing winds (usually west and northwest), along the boundaries of the site. Then the apple trees will protect other crops from the wind.

The pear is more thermophilic and less hardy than the apple tree. It grows well and bears fruit in deep fertile soils. Varieties have already been bred that winter without loss in our region and yield fruits of very good taste.

The best location for cherries is in elevated areas with good air and soil drainage. Cherry prefers light loamy soils. Since most cherry varieties are not pollinated with their own pollen, several varieties are planted on the site. Cherries differ in the type of fruiting and growth; bush cherries form single berries along the entire length of the branch.

Most varieties of bush cherry are self-fertile and do not need pollinators. Felt cherries, on the other hand, respond very well to another variety being planted next to them. When buying this plant for your garden, choose new products, because now scientists are struggling with the spring cherry gum flow, which sometimes ruins entire gardens of old varieties.

The most illuminated places on the site are sea buckthorn and black chokeberry. Sea buckthorn grows well on sandy loam, humus-rich soils and poorly on damp. For pollination, it is necessary to plant one male tree along with the female trees.

But if you have only a female specimen growing, then you can go to the trick, ask your neighbors for a branch from a male plant and hang it in a jar of water in the middle of your bush. Better yet, of course, would be to graft a bud or stalk into the crown of a female plant. But in any case, you will not be left completely without berries. The female sea buckthorn bushes are partially self-fertile and are capable of producing a small crop even without pollination.

When drawing up a plan for the placement of crops, one should not forget about the improvement of the site. Instead of a fence, you can grow a hawthorn or barberry hedge. The walls of the house are often decorated with climbing plants - lemongrass, hops, wild grapes, clematis or climbing roses.

Do not forget about the beauty of your garden - in addition to pergolas for various purposes, you can arrange a pharmacy garden, and place flower beds before entering the site and at the entrance to the house.

In a free space, you can create an alpine slide that will delight you from spring to the very snow, especially if you plant dwarf conifers on it.