Very envious of the large lots many of you have! Also of the well-organized smaller spaces, which will be my goal as I continue to plant our 1/6 of an acre lot (including house and greenhouse). The house came with a nice productive patch of red raspberries, a poorly producing patch of strawberries, and a large California bay tree but so far I’ve planted 3 loquat seedlings, 7 cold-hardy avocados (including two in-ground in the greenhouse), a couple feijoas, and an assortment of hardy subtropicals that I’ll be testing out. Most of the rest of the space will be dedicated to testing out more hardy avocados, but maybe I’ll throw in a couple zone appropriate things like figs or plums. I wish I could buy a few acres somewhere nearby but I’m no millionaire (it’s literally like $1M+ per acre anywhere vaguely near Seattle). Oh well!
I looked for several years before I found our 2.5 acres East of Vancouver, WA. I was looking for something within 15 minutes drive of my job. We saw the property we ended up on many times over a long period, but never went to look at it because it was shaded by 100 foot plus fir trees.
Finally, because there weren’t great prospects, we checked it out, only to discover that the previous owners had cleared 90% of the big trees for timber, and there were several fruit trees already established (unfortunately half of them were on the septic drain field 
)
We lucked out on timing, short sale, in 2010 paid less than half of what it would go for now.
I’m planted on maybe 1/2 acre of relatively flat to West facing slope. I’ve been gradually reclaiming an acre or so of North facing slope that was covered with cross-fence, trash, blackberries, stumps and the like. I’ve finally begun planting a few fruit trees on the areas that have been mowed for a couple years and don’t have stumps near.
We’re on a 50x100’ plot that includes our house and a 2 car garage on an alley. I’d say 1/2 to 2/3 of that 5000 sqft can be used for planting. We had to take down a 100+ year old sugar maple that had bad borers, so most places get 6+ hours of sun.
I’d lose it over that.
The orchard is about 4325 square feet or about a 0.1 acre.
Myself I always had a desire to try to grow fruit in small spaces. Now, I think people don’t realize that you can have a large orchard in small space with the availability of dwarfing rootstocks. I have always found Gene’s tiny orchard in Chicago to be inspirational even though I think somewhat bigger trees would be more practical for most.
http://www.midfex.org/App_Pages/Yale/intro.aspx
Started with 3 acres to build a house on, then we bought the neighboring 3 last year! I still haven’t put anything in the ground yet as construction is happening, but that’s a good 5+ acres to grow trees on (minus the building zones and septic). The biggest issue to contend with will be my husband’s sheep, so I’ll plant dwarf trees and interstems in areas that I can fence permanently and slowly cover the rest of the property in larger trees that eventually won’t need protections. It’s also quite steep and windy, so it’s all an experiment.
Ok, gotta ask about that… mainly because the topic seems very debated and unclear from a health perspective (certainly not good for the drainfield), and I have an apple tree within about 10’ of mine. I assume people have been eating from those trees on the drain field without health or flavor issues?
I have no qualms whatsoever eating tree fruit whose roots reach the drainfield.
I removed the trees from the drainfield, because I wanted to prolong the life of the field, but I also have some trees that are 10 feet away.
Believe me I went off on them.
Every fruit you’ve ever eaten probably had a dog pee on it. Probably had a rabbit poop under it. Probably had bird poop fro it’s branches. And the fruit is no worse for it.
I’d have zero concerns
Like I said, I’m not worried about it. But if I were, it wouldn’t be the poop and pee, it would be medicines from such and cleaning supplies and stuff.
Good point. I’d think they’d be sufficiently digested and diluted to not be a concern
Plus phosphate is good for plants. I’d doubt you’d put solvents of heavy metals down the drain. Those would be my concern if it was someone else’s gray water
1/8 acre in town. small city. corner lot. tons of microclimates depending on surrounding structures.
it’s a bit more land but the house takes up some and the shed and driveway.
small house, big lot. over a hundred years old, the place.
my dog poop gets piled into the horse manure/mulch heap. we have two dogs. there’s an area behind our fence that’s just mulch, logs, and manure that is by the alley, back of the shed. I have no photos of it.
I posted a photo in this thread in 2019. I tried to take a picture of the same area today (2023). Here is the progression over 4 years:
Wonderful progress, and looks like a pleasant place to relax.
No deer?
Loads of deer. I protect the trunks and let them prune the low branches/leaves. We are surrounded by corn and soybean fields, so they don’t pressure the trees excessively.