In 2017 I bought six acres and have slowly been setting it up as a hobby farm. It took a while to get a house there but now we’re fully into the orchard and garden stage so I thought I’d start posting my progress. I’m in Sonoma County, CA on the 9A/9B border so unsurprisingly my main interests are unusual apples, plums (especially Burbank varieties), and whatever weird fruit trees I can zone push.
What I started with: 1 wild plum growing out of a fallen chicken coop.
What I have now: over 100 trees including apples, pears, plums and other stone fruits, citrus, feijoas and other miscellaneous picks. Also, a very chaotic vegetable garden and a whole lot of sheep, pigs, and fowl. Hoping to add avocados, pawpaws and persimmons soon.
I should complete planting my semi-dwarf orchard this year. The rest of my property will probably be seedling, interstem and dwarf trees but these were either only available as semi-dwarf, ones I grafted a while ago, or just varieties I was in a rush to get and settled. This orchard is a mix of absolute favorite varieties and just settling for what was on sale or free. I’ll graft over anything that doesn’t wow me but just happy to get roots in the ground fast. This is a rather steep hill so management will be challenging but we’ll see how it goes.
The first tree I planted in ground two years ago was this Wickson on seedling rootstock and it’s already producing beautifully. I got about 30 perfect fruits from it last fall and they might have been the most delicious apples I’ve ever had.
I also got a few fruits last fall from an unusual espalier I bought at Costco of all places. Golden Russet and Esopus Spitzenburg were both solid this year.
I also accidentally let a few of my potted crabapples fruit due to neglect but no regrets. Muscat de Venus is closing in on Wickson for unusual excellent flavor. Can’t wait to see what it’s like when grown under proper conditions.
Good luck to you. Its a fun adventure! I have personally blown through hundreds and hundreds of varieties on my farm, it is definitely an addiction in the beginning.
Now that im getting old and converting to more value for less work I have reduced my variety selection to less than 100.
Have you thought about having a nursery of rootstocks and doing your own grafting/budding? I started doing this the year after I first tried T budding, 35 years ago, and because of this I think Ive purchased maybe 1% of the trees Ive had.
Grafting is fun, rewarding and the cheapest way to go. Not to mention all the varieties that become available to you that you cant get as trees.
