Location zone 5 at about 6100 ft altitude in the high plains. This means we have wind and it can snow or hail any day of the year. Our first snow is normally mid September with a few days of cold followed by a few weeks of Indian summer… March and April are still our snowiest months so most gardens in the area go in about mid May to early June. The area I have selected is sheltered on 3 sides but is wide open to the west.
Grocery row is a combination of a backyard orchard with small trees and an annual garden. This method uses wide rows and backyard orchard methods to keep the fruit trees small. You plant the trees on a 12 ft spacing, then you plant fruit bushes midway between the trees. The rest of the space is used for growing annuals or small perennials either veggies, herbs or flowers. It sounds interesting but I an a bit cautious as most of the examples I have found are in warmer zones…
So I am planning on 3 to 5 trees max with about an equal number of fruit bushes which could fit nicely in the space I have.
Problem: Making the best choices for the trees and bushes. I am thinking a serviceberry would be a no brainer as they are native as are the golden current I am interested in. The trees are my real problem… My husband is wanting Apricots, plums and peaches but I think apples would be a much better choice then peaches. HELP?
i do similar but more of a food forest. mostly the same. i have most of the same here and more. got over 60 types of fruit and nuts with veg and grains grown in between on less than a full acre. my tallest trees are planted to the north to the lowest bushes to the south with them also underplanted with squashes and smaller berry bushes. the rows are separated about 15ft. 20 would probably be better. im still adding and removing stuff that didnt work out, try a bunch of stuff. add some beneficial medicinal flowers and N fixers in between to help your fruit trees out. Siberian pea shrub and autumn olive is great for this.
Apples for sure, plums I would think, apricots maybe and peaches, no. Pears are a good possibility too.
After a bit of chatting and researching my husband and I decided that it would be best to start with a trio of apple trees and and a couple of service berry bushes. Just sent the order in to Fedco so I was a bit constrained by what was still in stock there.
I got a regent serviceberry which is one of the shorter cultivars and I may see what I can find to join it in its location in the garden at the native plant swap.
I did remember to double check that my apple choices could all pollinate each other. I chose Williams’ Pride, Sweet Sixteen, and Wealthy which I think will give us a nice length of harvest times. Wealthy is actually the only one I am even slightly concerned about as we can have late frosts or freezes and it is an listed as an early bloomer and is ready to pick later in fall so may be caught by our early freezes… But it sounded so good I had to give it a try.
currants and gooseberries are real easy to root from cuttings. lots of us on here grow them. they are no spray and birds mostly leave them alone here. if you want cuttings , just ask.
thank you for the offer.
To be honest I do have places planned out for currents and possibly gooseberries in my garden plan but at the moment I have them marked for natives if possible. Both wild black currents and golden currents are native to my area as is the serviceberry. And there are native gooseberries also. They may be more attractive to local birds then the European versions but they will also pull in local pollinators which I think is a more then fair tradeoff.
The native plant and seed swap is in early June and I am really hoping to score the currents for my grocery row garden and possibly an American Plum that can go in the side yard for my small “rewilding” area.
im all for the wild plants but have yet to find any wild Ribes productive and tasty enough to make me want to plant it. more productive cultivars put out 4xs the flowers and berries that are worthy of eating. i would think that would help out the insects and wildlife so much more. instead i plant flowering medicinals and wild flowers to help native pollinators and bring them in to pollinate my fruit. i have wild serviceberry on my property that ive grafted over to productive cultivars like Northline. if you are going to grow something to eat, you want it so productive that you and the birds can get some.
12’ spacing allows trees to have 6’ branches before they are running into the branches of the other tree which is a major pain.
At zone 5 6100’ you have a bit of a tough climate too. I am in Canada USDA zone 3a/b. 90% of my dwarf Bud9 trees have died. The dwarfing root stock can not bounce back if the tree is damaged by borers, or weather or disease. They just die. Having switched to Bud118 and trees are MUCH happier. You can keep Bud118 to 8-12’ with training/pruning but you can’t add vigor to a dwarf. The dwarfs also struggle in short growing seasons.
Think also about upkeep. 12’ spacing with bushes between means you can not mow around trees or bushes. EVERYTHING will need to be hand weeded or weed-whacked.
My 2 cents.
You are right of course sigh. I can save the natives for the side yard and yes cuttings would be nice.
Grin you did notice that I went with a regent serviceberry over a wild one since size and flavor and production are a known quantity. And of course the plan is to take cuttings once established and start a couple more bushes for my yard.
Nice to hear that about the Bud118 as that is the rootstock my three trees will be on. I had planned to go with standard rootstock because as you said you can’t add vigor to a dwarf and in our area the trees need all the vigor they can get. However I wanted all three trees on the same rootstock so I had a bit more options when it came to actually planting the trees. AND of course the varieties I wanted the most were on Bud118…
My area is only 19 by 21 feet so my trees will of necessity be kept smaller then normal. In the basic plan with them on 12 centers the trees are kept pruned small following the book “Grow A Small Fruit Tree” So that is option one but I could also plant them on the outer edge and grow them as cordons or I can try the 3 in one hole planting method. Regardless of the option I use I foresee a lot of maintenance work… and yes a lot of hand weeding since they will actually be part of a vegetable garden
Is only for luxurious southern California growing conditions. It is totally garbage that they talk like this is a universal option.
I personally would then plant them in a reverse triangle. If 19x21 is a square I would plant 1 at north west corner, other at north east corner and then 3rd in the middle of the south side. Will keep good sun and air exposure and keep crowding as low as possible. Inter-plant with bushes as you like.
Grow as a central leader and keep at least 1 foot between side branches alternating around the compass. Ideally lowest branch south or south/west then alternate going up the trunk 90 degrees at a time.