Please talk to me about orchards! :-)

[Castlelough]

I am a little bit obsessed with orchards at the moment!
Tell me about your orchard!

Which types of fruit trees? Which varieties did you choose and which would you
recommend? Or not?!

Which rootstocks did you choose?
I love the idea of a traditional style orchard with lovely tall trees...but, for those familiar with this type of orchard - how do you reach the treetops to harvest the fruit?! Ladders?!

Any other orchard tips or advice is more than welcome! :-)

There was an existing orchard when we bought the plot. We have apples, pears, cherries and plums. Our chickens also live in there

That's a lovely mix of trees Philoslothy . Are they tall rootstocks? Is it hard to reach the fruit?
And yes to chickens! I bet they love living there!!!

This is DH area if expertise . He does have ladders, I think the cherries are the tallest.

we have 3 different types of apple trees, 3 different types of plum trees, some pear trees and some cherry trees. All our trees are years old and are quite tall apart from 2 apple trees and the pear trees, all the other trees are very high. We couldnt even reach the top with a ladder as they are prob 6-7m high? We take off what we can but leave the rest for the birds in the winter, we couldnt use all the fruit anyway so its not a big issue for us.

Thanks Peggy! I hadn't really thought of it like that - a bird table on a grand scale! But I suppose as long as you can access plenty for yourselves.... .

I have six fruit trees in my garden and from the description I'm about to give, you'd think I had a massive orchard - I don't, it's my front garden.

I have four apple trees, one of which is William Crump. I don't know the names of the other three as they were already in the garden when I moved here. I keep meaning to take a branch and a fruit to a local fruit ID day but haven't got round to it. Some fruits are self fertilising but some need partners which is why apples in particular are often grown with other varieties to assist the setting of the fruit. Some types can set fruit with their own pollen but others need a chum or chums. I know that some people only have one apple tree in their garden but it'll either be self fertile or will have a partner nearby the neighbourhood otherwise it won't fruit.

I also have a plum tree - Opal on a pixy rootstock which means it'll never get too big and a Sunburst cherry tree.

The rootstock is the important thing here: there are now lots of different types which restrict the growth of the tree. I doubt whether any of my trees are on a large rootstock as the previous owners of my house were quite garden savvy. Some fruit trees can be grown in pots which would have been unthinkable 15 years ago. The development of different rootstocks has made this possible.

here's some more info on rootstocks: www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/articles/fruit-tree-rootstock-tree-sizes

D.G. Hessayon's 'The Fruit Expert' is good for beginners and doesn't list all varieties available. While 'Growing Fruit' by Harry Baker is considered to be the guide.

Thank you so much Phalenopsis I'll have to hunt down those books! What a lovely lot of trees you have!

We've got a small old orchard at the top of the garden - it has 3 plum, 3 apple & 3 pear trees. The pears don't fruit though so I need to replace some I think to cross pollinate them.
We've also got 10 apple trees, another plum, 2 greengage trees & a sloe tree within the rest of the gardens.
They are all well established and were here before we arrived.
We pick fruit with ladders on the larger trees but leave a lot for birds/compost as we simply have too much even though we freeze/bottle/give away loads.
I'm not sure of all the varieties as we didn't plant them but they are Victoria plums which are gorgeous & the nicest eating apples are Cox's Orange Pippin. We've got a mixture of eating & cooking apples.

Thanks Wonkylegs that's very helpful!
It sounds like you have heaps of trees! You seem to make use of the fruit very well too!

So if I went for the taller trees it sounds as though it wouldn't matter that I couldn't reach the higher up fruit as there would still be more than plenty within reach....that's good to know!
Must get to an apple day to taste some of the varieties!
Is it all a lot of hard work, harvesting the fruit and keeping the trees pruned and fertilised?
I probably have very romantic notions of picnics in the orchard and am hoping it will all be as lovely as I imagine it!!!

Hoping to plant in the autumn, but will prepare the ground sooner... It is currently a 20x20m site with scope to extend it into an adjacent field. I would like apples, plums, pears and cherries....but I am thinking of an espalier flanked pathway somewhere else in the garden and I have space to fan or espalier a further 5-6 trees against some old shed walls/gables (all south-facing).
Just wondering what is the best way to proceed.

I really crave cherries, but want to be able to access them and not lose them to the birds.

I also could have the option of building a greenhouse along one of the walls and growing peaches or something else (?) against the wall there.

Our plot is nearly 1 & half acres but the orchard is only about 12m x 15m which gives a nice spacing for the trees.
The larger apple trees are on the periphery of the main bit of the garden with lots of space around them.

We have found that the orchard isn't too bad for taking up time (the rest of the garden is another matter), however when the plums were in season I ended up spending 45mins to 1hr everyday picking them at their best & weekends raking up fallen fruit.
They smelt heavenly & made gorgeous plum brandy. So far they are my favourite fruit in the garden, closely followed by the strawberries, raspberries & black currents.
We don't really use the orchard except for the trees but I think that's because we've got lots of other areas.

How lovely! I dream of having an orchard one day...

I have a couple of plum trees, a cherry tree and a fig tree that doesn't grow figs. I've no idea what I'm doing to be honest but hey ho.

You can buy telescopic fruit pickers for tall fruit trees, OP. Kind of long poles with cutter and basket on the end....nifty.