Orchards & Forest Gardens

Before the fruit, there's all the wonderful blossom to enjoy.

I very often come across neglected orchards and fruit trees in my travels. With some initial work and understanding these can become some of the most productive areas of all and lovely places to spend time in. Maybe you have an old apple or plum tree in your garden that needs a bit of attention...
I spent a lot of our five years at Treflach Farm working in the old orchard there. It had been neglected for many years and had pretty much become a jungle. Also, pigs had been allowed to forage amongst the windfalls and had rootled deep around them, so that many were leaning at odd angles. There was talk of taking everything out and starting again, but I'm very glad we didn't. With lots of serious pruning and cutting back of hedges we restored the area into super fruity abundance and into a very pleasant place to work or walk through.
One of the best apple trees at Treflach Farm had become completely engulfed by a hedge. After we rescued it, it became one of the most productive trees of all. It wasn't big and it was a very odd shape, but it produced crates and crates of the most delicious apples.
DELICIOUS PLUMS - GARDEN vs. SUPERMARKET
Plums are one of my favourite fruits. After you've been able to help yourself to bowlfuls of delicious fruit straight from the tree, it's always astonishing to see the price of those supermarket packs of un-ripe, un-tasty offerings. Then there's the food miles and the plastic packaging to consider. I noticed kiwi fruit from Vietnam in the store the other day - kiwi fruit can be grown in this country.
Anyway, after the initial restoration of your tree or orchard the year-on-year continuing care becomes much easier and lighter. Then you can start to broaden your horizons with thinking about your orchard or garden as partly a forest garden... more about Forest Gardening shortly...

Delicious mini-plums, damsons galore at Treflach

This worked really well, a double row of willow trees next to a double row of raspberries

The Treflach orchard in mid restoration

Apples everywhere...

Just part of the haul from one tree

This tree had become completely engulfed by the hedge but turned out to be one of the tastiest of them all, and very productive

One of the trees that had been undermined by pigs but had a second life after serious pruning

Same tree, different angle. It was one of the first to fruit, so a brilliant asset

Apply abundance 

Strange shapes but productive trees - note the straw mulch

Ducks and woodland are a brilliant partnership. This cherry tree flourished amazingly after Ruth put a drinker for the ducks beneath it. They keep pests and grass down and their poo encourages the tree too. They're also great company and lots of fun to watch.

We had given this crabapple tree up for dead but the ducks effectively nursed it back to life after we started putting water for them beneath it