Newly planted orchard

Haakon starts with ...
I planted an orchard of 6 dwarf fruit trees in my underutilised front garden over the weekend. 2 pears, 2 peaches, a nectarine and an apricot. Each tree hole got a half bag of shop compost, a half bag of shop soil activator, chook pellets and rock minerals, topped with coir mulch.

The trellises are orientated north/south. I am using the KNNN espalier method detailed in an article on the Woodbridge Fruit Trees website.

In one photo you can see my casa Italiano in the background. This shades the site in winter but by my calculations there should be good sun by September 1st and full sun by October 1st. The photo also shows the fejoa in the foreground that doesn’t fit anymore and needs to be transplanted. It has been there for a year, does anyone have any advice on the move?

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2	Picture: 3

John Mc says...
Nice work. That's a good strong trellising system you have built there. I don't know anything about your training system I've only grown trees in the normal way.

In my opinion July or August would be the better months for the move, maybe favouring August if there is no urgency.

ringelstrumpf says...
It looks as if you want to cage the trees against birds!

Brad says...
the feijoa is small. it should transplant quite well. give it a good drink well before. try to keep as much of the rootball and soil intact. Ideally do it on a cloudy day otherwise before sundown. don't fertilize - seasol is good.

with regards to JohnMc - I reckon Autumn or early winter is a good time for Perth. get the roots well established before spring / early summer which are already pretty intense here.

As with Jimmy, there's probably a few things I'd recommend doing differently - but there's no wrong in gardening. see how you go. you might find they're eventually too close together or hard to keep to shape - but you can always remove some and in the meantime you had some fun and hopefully some fruit. what did someone say the other day... something like if you're not moving plants and/or having some die - you're not extending yourself as a gardener

Jimmy says...
http://www.woodbridgefruittrees.com.au/woodbridgefruittrees/articles/159-espaliering-apricots-and-plums.html

This is the fan training emthod.

Haakon says...
Thanks for the feedback Jimmy. Not harsh, I wouldnt post if I didnt want to be helped. I have a few weeks to think about how I am going to go about it before spring.

Here are a couple photos of stone fruit espaliers from a paper NEW TRAINING AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR LOW-CHILL STONEFRUIT from Qld DPI.

I reckon I will move the dwarf apricot to a free standing position.

As for getting a consultant in to show me how to do my hobby. That was a joke wasnt it?

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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ringelstrumpf says...
I tend to cram everything in. Instead of mowing around the trees I would maybe plant something. Flowers or rhubarb or berry bushes, strawberries, herbs probably everything mixed together. It's maybe less work than mowing around all these trees.
Your garden looks now quite different than your neighbours!

Wayne says...
Me to ringelstrumpf, but if I can't eat it I won't plant it, however, I end up with this jungle that makes life difficult

ringelstrumpf says...
Wayne, never heard of rose jam or flowers in the salad? That does not mean that we do eat all our flowers, but a garden without flowers can't be!
BTW, roses are the preferred food of our sheep.