Backyard orchard planning final thoughts, and suggested Christmas gifts for gardeners

Wrapping up some thoughts and advice on planning a new backyard orchard. Think about it, plan it, but above all DO IT! You'll be glad later and so will others.

suggested Christmas presents for the orchardist in your life

SECATEURS
Felco number 8.
PRUNING SAW-Silky Fox Gomtaro Apple 300 mm
expect to pay about £50 each, well worth it if you have any number of trees to prune and want to do it well, simply the best tools as proven in my orchard over half a decade. The Felco's are expensive but look at it this way-if I haven't worn mine out pruning 3,000 trees (cumulatively) then they will not only last your lifetime but you can leave them to your children in you Will. As long as you don't lose them you'll never need to buy another set, so if you use secateurs regularly, why settle for second rate imitations when for a bigger initial investment you could have the very best-for life? The great John Seymour wrote 'Get the best tools you can afford, and then look after them.' I have never regretted buying better, but often regretted a false economy.

BOOK-The Apple Book by Rosie Sanders, I got mine from Amazon. A pure delight, see my earlier video review. Lovely watercolours plus oodles of information and a useful section on tree care by Sir Harry Baker. An excellent Christimas present fotr anyone who loves apples, orchards, gardening and watercolour painting.

Category:

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• apple
• pear
• plum
• orchard
• backyard
• stephen
• hayes
• fruitwise
• Felco
• secateurs
• Silky
• Fox
• sax
• Rosie
• Rosanne
• Saunders
• book

[JasminAplin]

If I plant 3 trees, early, mid and late how can they pollinate properly? From watching you videos I understand that apple trees need another apple tree (or sometimes 2) to help them pollinate. Will the 3 (early mid and late) trees pollinate properly by themselves or will I need to graft an extra variety on each tree?

[stephenhayesuk]

@JasminAplin flowering/pollination group and fruiting group are not necessarily the same, you need to check this for each apple. As a rule, 3 apples that flower early, late and mid season will probably overlap enough to pollinate. Bear in mind that some are triploid, e.g. Bramley, and have no good pollen to donate.

There are too many different apples for me to list flowering times and compatibilities, this is something you'd need to look up for the varieties you want to plant. ask the nursery.

[renagade12]

is 4 or 5 yards a good distance from one apple tree to another? im from Canada and i fell in love with watching my Asian pear tree grow, its a grafted tree so i get 4 or 5 different variety... and am now planning on planting 2 apple trees, what distance do you recommend.... thank you for all your wonderful videos..!

[stephenhayesuk]

@renagade12 Hi and thanks. 5 yards is good for medium rootstocks in decent soil. Poorer soil or smaller rootstocks, can be closer. 4 yards might be OK as long as you don't have vigorous varieties like Bramley or Suntan or strong growing stocks, but not closer. If you have enough space, a bit further apart is better. I learned this the hard way, I had to cut down alternate trees where I planted 3 yards apart and they grew into each other. Its difficult to get it right first time.

[cooper68ns]

thank you mr hayes, you are right about there being very little (good )info on the web,thats why people like you taking your time and explaining things in an understandable way,are worth your weight in gold.I am pleased to say i have my rootstock ordered,land limed,contacts made for scion wood,and am working on my certification.can't wait for spring,good Quote "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago,the second best ,is today." thanks for the inspiration,all the best over the holidays.

[stephenhayesuk]

@cooper68ns "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago,the second best ,is today."

that's a great quote, I'll remember and use it alongside another of my favourites ''How to avoid criticism: say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.'

kind regards

[telemarker77]

Nice job. Hope you had a good Christmas and have a good New Year.

God Bless

[renagade12]

@ggmorvaj

hi, no i have not, they grow great! and taste amazing.. my friend has a European pear, and the thing about them is once they LOOK ripe, its too late, and his pear tree is full of cankers etc.. no problems with the asian for me though!

stay safe

Vaughn

[ggmorvaj]

@renagade12

Hi, have you had any trouble with fireblight on your Asian pear??

I never saw it till about 5 years ago, then I had a bad 2 seasons with it...it killed a Clapp's pear & almost killed an Anjou . The Anjou survived, but I lost about 3/4 of it (I've been battling the waterspouts & wild new growth ever since.) I'd like to try Asian pears, but I don't know anyone who grows them & don't know the problems/downsides. (I'm near Lindsay, ON)

& THANKS Stephen for another excellent video!

[bagofholding]

Greetings from Minnesota Stephen.  We're currently getting our first cold blast of the season as we got down to -15F overnight and are expecting -15F to -20F (under -26C) this evening as well. Quite important to have very hardy trees in this area!

[renagade12]

@stephenhayesuk

thank you Stephen, im glad you told me this because i was going to plant my other plumb tree 3 yards from the other one!! yeah it seems when it comes to this area of growing it is easy to fail.. just because of ignorance :)

thanks again

stay safe

Vaughn

[MadBadVoodo]

★★★★★

[ballhitch2]

@stephenhayesuk ''the man who never made a mistake, never made anything'' and so on. keep up the good work. happy Christmas, looking forward to spring. good luck and may you have heavy branches come the summer