In approximately 4.5 months, I will close on my new 10 acre farm, and the race will be on to get as much done as possible before summer comes to an end.
I’m excited to hit the ground running, but also trying to be mindful and temper my own expectations. Realistically, I’m not going to reach any level of self sufficiency in year one… or two, or three.
However, there are some tasks that are a little more urgent than others. The one that looms large in my mind is fruit trees. Fruit trees are an important part of self sufficiency on any homestead; when done correctly, they take minimal maintenance but still reliably produce a significant quantity of food every year.
I love fruit, so in order to achieve my goals I will need to grow a lot of it. Unlike gardening, I don’t have much experience with tending an orchard – so I can’t wing it. I also know that it’s going to take a long time to see results, so the sooner I get trees in the ground, the better.
I’ll need to be on the property for a bit to finalize the growing locations, but in the meantime I’ve been doing some research to educate myself on how to best design and maintain an orchard for my semi self sufficient homestead.
Step 1: Identify my plant growing zone (and other key details)
“The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which perennial plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature.” Find your Plant Hardiness Zone here.
My Connecticut orchard will be in Zone 6b. Additionally, I used this site to determine that my property’s elevation is approximately 550 feet above sea level.
Any of the locations that I pick for the orchard will receive full sun for at least 6 hours per day – more in the summer. There are some select locations on the property with partial sun that I can prioritize for trees that need it.
All of these details will help determine which varieties of fruit tree are likely to be successful in my farm’s orchard.
Step 2: Determine my orchard “must-haves”
Due to my growing zone, I have to be a little bit realistic here – I’d love to grow bananas and oranges, but that’s just not in the cards for my New England homestead.
My must-haves are apples, peaches, pears, and mulberries. Someday I’d love to add paw-paws and nut trees among other things, but I’m trying to keep a manageable list for year one!
I’m planning to start with at least three of each fruit tree. One of each would likely be enough to meet my fruit needs as a single person, but you generally need two trees for effective pollination. With three of each, I can help to ensure that even if one tree dies or has an unsuccessful year, I still have enough to hold me over while I plant replacements and wait for them to mature.
Orchard Must-Have #1: Apples
Apples are incredibly important for me – picking and eating apples when they were in season was such a formative part of my childhood. When I lived in Colorado, apples were the only thing that assuaged my homesickness in the autumn.
I want to make sure I pick apple varieties that are disease resistant and able to withstand the increasingly extreme weather events that happen in my area. I also want to ensure they are easy to store long-term and versatile, since I will want to both eat and cook with them.
While my research will continue up until the moment I begin to put trees in the ground, here are some of the varieties I’m looking at for my orchard:
- Baldwin – a long history in New England, good all-around apple that stores well
- Macoun – they’re my adopted mom’s favorite, although they’re a little tart for me
- Empire – firm and very sweet
Orchard Must-Have #2: Peaches
On the flip side, now that I live back in Connecticut, when I’m homesick for Colorado, I have to eat a peach! The peaches grown in Palisade and Paonia on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains are absolutely incredible, and buying them from roadside fruit stands was always a quintessential summer afternoon event.
I likely won’t be able to store fresh peaches through the winter, so most will be processed via canning or freezing. Disease and frost resistance are my main priority in order to increase my likelihood of an annual harvest.
Here are some of the varieties that seem suitable for the ebbs and flows of a Connecticut climate:
- Intrepid – blooms late to avoid frost damage
- Harbinger – “vigorous and productive”
- Curlfree – resistant to leaf curl disease, which I believe my family’s peach tree next door might have
Orchard Must-Have #3: Pears
There are fewer varieties of pear to choose from, and two varieties are needed for cross pollination to occur. It seems like all of the major European varieties do well in the Connecticut climate. Bosc seems to be a productive choice, and Seckel is more resistant to fire blight than the common Bartlett. Due to the limited available varieties (and an absence of pickiness on my end, unlike with apples), I will wait and see what options are available at the nurseries later this year.
Orchard Must-Have #4: Mulberries
My dad used to tell stories about growing up in Kentucky. He’d ride his bike through the woods to a mulberry tree, stuff his face with berries, and get his face and shirt stained purple. I was always amazed that he had no supervision, but I guess it was the 60s after all.
I tried to bring this experience back to him by planting a mulberry tree in a pot, but it didn’t survive. To this day, I have never eaten a mulberry! For my dad’s memory, I’ve known for a while that I have to have them on my farm – even if I’m unlikely to beat the birds to a significant harvest.
In my area, it is important to not accidentally plant an invasive mulberry variety. It seems that my best option is going to be the Illinois Everbearing Mulberry, which fruits early and can be pruned to maintain a reasonable height.
Step 3: Organize the planting and maintenance information
I can ‘go with my gut’ on a lot of things when it comes to growing food, but planting this orchard is not one of them – fruit trees take a significant time and cost investment that is too valuable to put at risk with my limited experience.
When I feel overwhelmed by information, there’s nothing that makes me feel better quite like looking at a well organized spreadsheet – so when the orchard information started to pile up, I knew just what to do.
This simple Google Sheet allows me to easily visualize key information about each to plant each fruit tree variety, particularly when to plant. In my research, I’ve also been coming across details that will be useful much later in the process, such as when and how to harvest and perform maintenance; this spreadsheet also allows me to hang on to those details until I need them.
While this Google Sheet is truly nothing fancy, you’re welcome to grab a copy of it here (free, obviously!) if you’d like to use it for your orchard!
You’ll notice that I also added a second tab for Orchard Maintenance. This is my current prototype for keeping track of my orchard once it’s planted. It hosts data points such as when trees were planted and when they were last maintained, as well as the source in case I want to add to the orchard in the future.
This is just a prototype, with mock numbers to represent my expectations. I’ll update the structure as I use it. In the meantime, do you have any recommendations for how I could improve it? What should I add to better track my orchard’s health and productivity?
I’m glad to have a plan for when the time comes to start buying and planting trees, even though I have to wait until closing day in June to take further action. In the meantime, I’ll be checking out the spring sales, perusing the catalogs, and adding any pertinent information to my spreadsheets.
This research also gave me an idea regarding my mulberry trees. Bare root mulberry trees are best planted in the spring, which would mean I have to wait until Spring of 2026 to get plants in the ground.
However, mulberries can also be planted in a pot. I think I’ll buy my trees this spring and raise them in containers for transplantation in the fall. The potted mulberries would probably do okay in my apartment, but maybe I can sucker my adopted family into letting me borrow a corner of their greenhouse for even better results. 🙂
Are you planning an orchard, or do you already have one? Do you have any tips on designing or maintaining an orchard? Let me know!
Talk soon,
KC