Rob's plants home garden plants wildlife seed photos plant sale journal topics plantlinks fun guestbook The orchard

Orchard. The word evokes images of tidy rows of fruit trees, all brimming with bright-colored fruit. Our orchard isn't quite like that... Yes, there are fruit trees, to be sure: 3 apples (a dwarf red delicious, a not-so-dwarf granny smith, and a to-be-determined royal gala), a pear, an apricot, a peach, a nectarine, two sweet cherries and one sour cherry tree. Problem is, they've not been particularly fruitful so far - with the exception of the pear, which provides us (and the wasps) with a bountiful harvest most years. The stone fruits, in the years they decide to set fruit, get attacked by a terrible fungus (fireblight?), and I'm usually too busy to take preventative measures - so we've never harvested an apricot, peach, or nectarine. The red delicious apple usually gives us some fruit, but we're not particularly fond of it (the worms are, though). And the granny smith, for all its bulk, hardly sets any fruit (it's gonna get the heave-ho one of these years). We have all our hopes, apple-wise, set on the new royal gala...

But our orchard is about more than just fruit trees. It's also home to

• Our bramble patch of raspberry and blackberry plants – only our brave little boys dare venture in
• Some ornamental shrubs (viburnum opulus and viburnum trilobum, as well as a mock orange)
• Our composting area: two side-by-side 4ft square bins I constructed out of leftover bricks one year. One glance and you'll see I'd never make a very good mason, but it works OK. Since we never have the right mix of greens and browns and it never stays wet enough in summer, the composting process is slow. One side is compacted, actively composting material, while the other side is heaped full of uncompacted stalks and other waste, waiting for a trip through the shredder before it can start it journey to black-goldness.

Any space not taken up by the above gets used to temporarily stash plants. Mostly seedlings started that spring that are too small to live in the regular garden areas yet, also some dug-up volunteers that will make their way into the spring plant sale. Very many plants! Quite a sight in winter, when the only things visible are the myriad white plant markers that will remind me what is where come spring.

The plants below are permanent residents of our orchard area

The plants below grow in holding zone A

The plants below grow in holding zone B

The plants below grow in holding zone C

The plants below grow in holding zone D

The plants below grow in holding zone E

The plants below grow in holding zone F

The plants below grow in holding zone G

The plants below grow in holding zone H

The plants below grow in holding zone I

The plants below grow in holding zone J

The plants below grow in holding zone K

The plants below grow in holding zone L

The plants below grow in holding zone M

The plants below grow in holding zone N

The plants below grow in holding zone O

The plants below grow in holding zone P

The plants below grow in holding zone Q

The plants below grow in holding zone R

The plants below grow in holding zone S

The plants below grow in holding zone T

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Last modified: March 15, 2014
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