While the front Orchard was one of the first things put in on the Homestead, it’s now time to expand with a proper Tree Orchard. Clearing the area began late last summer and there’s still some work to be done. On the other hand, supplies of available trees are highest right now, so an order was needed to get an interesting collection started.
The plan for the first phase is to put in about a dozen or so Apple trees along with a few other fruit trees. So for the first order, the following trees were selected:
- Honeycrisp
- Cox Orange Pippin
- Winter Banana
- Smokehouse
- Orleans
- Wagener
In addition there are two Goldcot Apricots in the order as well as two types of new Raspberries. To meet the goal of a dozen trees, a few locally available Apples will be added to the planting, most likely Yellow Delicous, Red Delicous, Cortland, Fuji, Jonathan, or Macintosh.
Besides the Goldcots, there are a couple of dozen pits to try and sprout from an unknown Apricot at my mothers. These are similar to Goldcot but should be well suited to the climate here.
Over in the Soft Fruit Orchard, the new Raspberries are Double Gold and Crimson Night. These will join the Lathams, Anne, Black Hawk, and Royal Purple to make a nice colorful and tasty crop!
The rest of the Soft Fruits include. Few types of Blackberries and three types of Strawberries. Still to be added are the blueberries and other minor fruits as well as the grapes for the grape house.