Ache, your plan is so nice!

I'm a big fan of close plantings of fruiting treasures!!!! I'd only suggest adding more Blueberries and Bananas, as they are so yummy, that you can never have enough.(G)

I have a small orchard of 9 Peach trees on the NW corner of my property. It includes 2 dwarf Mangoes, a large native Palm with Dragonfruits growing up it, a gorgeous Jackfruit, 2 Starfruits, 3 Lychees, a Simmonds Avocado (small), an Alano Sapodilla, a row of Bananas along the shed, and Blackberries on the fenceline. All in an area maybe 40' by 15'. It is easy to keep Peach trees small. I tuck them in all over the place(G).

More Bananas are planted on the East side of the shed, and there I have my Apple orchard. I have 11 Apple trees in half whiskey barrels (with the bottoms knocked out). They are just far enough apart to mow between. Easy to care for, and very pretty and productive.

Past them, to the East are 3 Pear trees, a Black Sapote, and my main Citrus area. Another Jackfruit, and 5 grape varieties are also there, as well as Blackberries along the fenceline. Under the Citrus are my Orchids.

On the West, south of the chicken coop/wooden shed, is a large, long, raised area of fruit trees. We lost so much privacy from the hurricanes, that I planted edibles as a screen. I have multiple Bananas, Papayas, Pomegranates, 7 Citrus, 5 Plums, Macadamia Nut, Pitomba, Mamey Sapote, Barbados Cherries, Cherry of the Rio Grande, 4 Dwarf Mangoes, Black Sapote, and butterfly plants.

I have other heavily planted beds with fruit trees(I don't want to bore you with too many descriptions).

The more we can sustain ourselves, and make the world prettier too, the better!

Lisa

holy cow, lisa! i mean, i knew you had a lot of fruit trees, but, wow!

i was thinking of adding a starfruit. my brazilian friend up the road has a couple of nice, large trees that thrive. i used to think that they were sorta tasteless until i got one picked off the tree and let it ripen a day or two on the counter. WOW! they are so tasty -- it's like a completely different fruit from the one that you buy in the grocery store. i've heard the same holds true for dragonfruits... insipid, unless you get them fresh.

can you give me some names of apples, plums and peaches that you grow successfully? i'm amazed that you have so many in z10.

i'm adding more dwarf bananas, slowly. i have three kind now (oronico, raji puri, & a dwarf cavendish). i have another, noid, on the side of the house that produces a nice bunch every year and a half or so.

it's inspiring to hear how much you've fit into these spaces.

I've been meaning to give you a link to this guy's GW page. Maybe you've already seen it by now. If you do a search for his handle over on the Fruits & Orchards forum you may come up with a few more pics. It looks like he plants his trees really close and keeps them pruned into cordons. I'm sure it's a lot of pruning work, but if it will work down here it'll give you lots more room for variety, if you're interested in that.

Here is a link that might be useful: orchard

I came across these the other day too. This would be a even more pruning! I think these people are in Australia. Building the frame work around the espaliered trees would help keep the birds from eating your fruit too, and I imagine here you could use the framework to help protect tender plants when it freezes.

Here is a link that might be useful: espalier orchard

I will pack up my squirrels, racoons, and armadillos and ship them to you. We only have a half dozen fruit trees and I think the poor critters are starving.

I'm going to start growing more unusual tropical fruits too. I want to try them first - it would be a shame to grow them and dislike them. THere's a Rare Fruit CLub here in Lee county and I'm going to go to a couple meetings and sample their wares. I tried one thing at ECHO- and it was terrible. So far I have grapefruit, bananas, figs, pomegranate, two dwarf mangoes a tiny Honeybelle orange and a guanabana.
I like your plan I M A it's better than my just planting willy nilly.