What is cool about being creative with very little land is seeing how I can change it up annually. Raising some beds, creating water ditches, positioning planters in different places for more or less sun and rain, and when annuals and sadly perennials die trying something new. For example I know now that flowers bring bees that pollenate so I check which plants in Shortys and Yard n Garden are covered in bees and I buy those to plant near fruits and vegitables. An ever work in progress I am not bored, and I have found I am able to produce enough for me to now can fruit. Last year I tried to make grape jelly. It did not set, I messed up. But I will improve, amd it is worth it.
I planted also a dwarf multi graft cherry in front and plum on west side, in back are honeyberries, and in front is a goji berry and male kiwi doing good. Issai died, so need new female type kiwi, and bought a Canby raspberry and persimmon this March.
i always thought the reason my father had flowers among his veg. and around his fruit trees was for the look. i now know better and do the same. i put out as many bee flowers i can and are always tweaking things to make room for more. i dreaded mowing the steep ditch near the road so last year i killed all the grass there and reseeded with native perennial wildflowers. they were beautiful come mid summer. my neighbors all commented how good it looked. i have another ditch further down i plan to do the same but its heavily shaded so i need to find shade mix perennials to put there. try freezer jam. its much simpler. doesn’t require any heating and i find the taste is better. mash the berries add pectin, jar it, let set, then freeze. i use the small cheap plastic food containers which stack nicely in the freezer.
Fascinating to see the different environments people are working with.
We are on a fairly small lot in a small town, about 90 feet east-to-wettish by 75 feet north-to-southish. With a house in the middle, of course.
When we moved in, there were something like three dozen yew bushes around the house and down one property line. My wife found the yews to be dreary, so I dug them out. She liked the idea of fruit trees, so I started looking into growing them…
Now we have more than three dozen fruit trees, mostly apple and pear, plus three Nanking cherries and a peach added this year. The apples and pears are in the form of two Belgian fences (or aspiring Belgian fences). Espalier is the way to go if you want a lot of trees in a small yard!
Our lot is 0.27 acres, including the house. I’m using pretty much all if it to grow stuff, including the parking strip in front. I’ve got apples, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, jujubes, mulberries, figs, blueberries, haskaps, saskatoon berries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, lingonberries, gooseberries, hardy kiwi, grapes, walnuts, almonds, filberts, pistachios, and pecan growing with varying degrees of success. I’ve run out of room for planting; I’m trying to learn grafting so I can keep expanding my varieties.
I grow a few vegetables, I would grow more if they were perennial.
12 acres of mostly mature forest. The previous owner had attempted to cut every single tree to make pasture to raise horses on. The logging company cut a lot of large white oaks and other good trees before an accident de-railed their plans. The owner decided that was a bad omen and put it up for sale I suppose… Most of the trees remain except for ~1/2 acre they had basically clear cut. In the intervening time it had grown up into a wilderness of seedling trees, weeds, etc… Soon as I saw it, I knew what I wanted to do with that space. Cleared the weeds and got grass growing and this last year an electric fence encircling it. Apple, Cherry, Plum, Peach, Raspberry, Blackberry, Hazelnut, English Walnut. There are some large native black walnut just outside the fenced area I have to be cautious of. Have some Butternut close to them and some native/volunteer Pawpaw. Hoping to add Fig, Persimmon, Mulberry, Pecan, etc…
I’m jealous. I have dozens of stumps to deal with. It’s difficult to get a big piece of equipment to our house at the end of a narrow, hilly, asphalt, private road shared by neighbors.
i had 4 of them in the yard, when i 1st moved here. i dug out around them and cut them just below the soil level. put some soil on them and planted berries. all are growing good and in time will continue to fertilize those spots as they rot. like hugelkultue. cheaper and cleaner than ripping them out. unless your going to use the land for a garden.
Track hoes aren’t too messy. They are pretty soft shoe’d. Barely wider than a car. As you may know, the damage is caused by all the turning, when they tear the ground. But a careful operator can minimize that.
Smaller rubber tracked hoes can be even more delicate on the ground, but still do a lot of work.
Here’s a pic of some gate posts we put in. At about 3.5’ we hit solid rock. We jack-hammered through some to set the posts. But finally I ended up calling a local heavy equip guy to dig the holes. He started out with a rubber track hoe, with a narrow bucket for max intensity at the claws. We needed the posts to sit 7.5’ below grade.
That hoe didn’t do anything. It wouldn’t bust through. Then he brought a big track hoe. That one could grab a car in it’s bucket, but still wouldn’t bust through the rock. Finally, he brought a 5000 lb. rock hammer for the end of the hoe. That finally busted through the hard rock. In the end, he smoothed up the tracks with his skid steer. I could have smoothed it up with my tractor, which I know you have a good one - so no excuses
My point is that a small rubber track hoe will do minimal damage to the ground. Even if it does, you should be able to repair the ground with your tractor and bucket.
Around here, we can even rent heavy equip. Foley rental rents anything you want, for a fairly reasonable price.
I checked with them last year and they will rent a blade (i.e. motor grader) for a reasonable price (less than you could hire) I’ve been looking into that to build some more terraces. The first ones I built, I bought a blade and sold it after I was done.
Here it is. I loved that machine. It weighed 16 tons and would push a mountain of dirt. Blade was 14’ wide. In some ways I was sorry to sell it, but I was done with the job.
I was looking at your pics and thinking “That looks like Michigan”. Checked your profile and sure enough you are on the other side of the state from me. My place in what I think is considered southwest Michigan.
We’re on a pair of residential lots for a total of 100’x200’ in southern Ontario. There is also a house, small shed, store and small parking lot as well as several old trees.
Right now I have 16 fruit trees, many fruit shrubs and vines as well as lots of edible perennials. If you count the different varietals separately, I think we are close to or over having 150 different types of permanent food plants.
I’ve also got 4 “square foot” gardens, 6 1/2 barrels and lots of pots and urns for our annual kitchen garden.
It’s always a work in progress but we are getting to the point where we are pretty much fully covered for our fruit and veg needs most of the summer to mid fall and can stockpile some for winter.
Production is starting to ramp up as things get settled in and it looks like we will probably have to invest in a dehydrator next year. (aaaand maybe a commercial kitchen!)
I don’t sell our produce but do have a few buyers for finished goods, when I offer them. Mostly pies, cakes and loaves.
Some of what we have: sour cherry, pawpaws, apricot, plums, pears, Asian pear, elderberry, hazelnut, goji, haskap, raspberries ( 6 types) boysenberries, blackberries, goji, black, red and clove currants, kiwi, plumcot, walking onions, rhubarb, lilac, roses, hosta, asparagus, herbs.
I’m about 2 hours from Kzoo. I’m happy to share cuttings, figs, rootstock… There are some good trout streams near your place so I am in that area occasionally.
We just bought an old house on 10 acers of land that is covered in steel/junk. We had to move 10 ton of scrap before i could plant 250 nut, fruit and other trees this spring. Some for the wildlife some for myself. I have a long ways to go, and hope to plant more as i clear the land. Ive only scratched the surface, but the price was right and were going to have what we always wanted. Its been a busy 6 months juggling trees and remodeling the house.
cheaper and cleaner than ripping them out. unless your going to use the land for a garden.
