Three apple trees will produce a lot of fruit- might you start with the just Braeburn or GD (sorry, I can't bring myself to suggest the RD!) while you get your feet wet, and then go from there?

You will likely find that all fruit are better when grown close to home, so your choices may change too. And with a little experience you may decide to try a pear or one or two of the stone fruits, for that matter. So maybe leave yourself a little room for that, if you like.

Good luck,

M

I'd plant 7 trees back there three feet apart. To spread the harvest out I'd plant Pristine, Williams' Pride, Golden Delicious, Rubinette, Honeycrisp, and your favorite Mac/Jonathan-type disease-resistant varieties. Try checking Cummins nursery in New York.

With a small yard, a fence and an interest in apples, I think espaliering might be the perfect thing. If your fence has a southern or eastern exposure you can train your apple trees to grow in a two-dimensional plane along your fence, which will not only look nice, but will give you lots more room to grow your other fruit. Apples are a classic fruit tree to espalier and you can find tons of information on how to do it on the internet.

I don't claim any great expertise on espaliering, but I also have a small yard and I bought an espaliered pear tree with three varieties of pear grafted onto the same tree last week. I plan to create a living fence behind my flower garden.

You can choose from many different varieties to espalier, or you can get multiple varieties grafted onto the same tree to make it self-fruitful.

Anyway, good luck!