What are cordon fruit trees? Well, I had no idea until this morning--but now that I know, I just might have to pocket that idea for the future!
Holes dug and trees distributed at each one--ready for us to plant! (all photos are mine)
Last Sunday at church, our blueberry farming neighbor asked us--well, I think he was mainly asking the Husband, but I was there too soooo--anyway, he said he would need help Saturday (today) to get 300 fruit trees planted, and would we be willing to join the crew for $15/hour?
The Husband: "Well, I'm planning on turkey hunting..."
Me: "I'LL DO IT!!"
Hey, I have to accumulate my mad money somehow, and the more sources, the better. Even more so now that 
Having previously gotten permission from the neighbor to bring the kiddos along, off we went this morning to his property. I got there just in time to settle the kids with tablets and hear his explanation of how we'd be planting the trees: at 45 degree angles, and tying them to heavy wire running between the stakes all along each row. What?
Tree shipping box = kid refuge from the sun
Cordon Fruit Trees
Cordon (as the method is called, and it seems to be more common in Europe than here) fruit trees enable a person to pack a whole lot more trees into a relatively small space--instead of spacing his dwarf fruit trees 10-12 feet apart, my neighbor was spacing them more like 3-4 feet apart. It's not just the 45 degree angle that allows that, though; the trees will have to be pruned a certain way in the late summer to ensure they stay compact, otherwise they'll just become leaning full-sized trees. Basically, thanks to the method of pruning (which is described in the articles linked below), the tree will remain more like a single stem with very short branches, instead of growing a canopy with more spreading branches. According to my neighbor, it will also bear fruit much sooner than a "regular" fruit tree, since it won't be busy growing tall and putting out full sized branches.
Angling the tree simply brings the top lower, and therefore makes all the fruit easily reachable--and considering our neighbor is developing this orchard to be a future you-pick farm, not having to deal with ladders and the liability thereof is going to be a huge bonus.
He's got a bunch of upright fruit trees as well (already planted), but growing 300 of his trees as cordons is also letting him pack in many more varieties of trees in the space available: pears, three kinds of apples, both sweet and tart cherries, peaches. I think he said plums, too. All in addition to the blueberries taking up the bulk of his main field. (To call his venture beyond ambitious is an understatement.)
Some more interesting reading on cordons:
https://www.growveg.com/guides/cordon-fruit-trees-how-to-get-the-best-harvest-from-a-small-garden/
https://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/gardening-advice/fruit-tree-advice/growing-cordon-fruit-trees
I was the only woman there, and quite frankly, I didn't object when the neighbor paired up all the men to work together, one guy holding a tree firmly in place while the other raked the previously dug-out, heavy, muddy clay back into each hole and around the roots. Call me lazy but I was happy to be assigned the job of tying each tree in place on the supporting wire, using a rubbery thingie that I had to twist around the wire twice, then wrap each end around the tree and secure. I had to check the angle on each tree first (and ended up repositioning most of them!) and also ensure that the rubbery stuff was in between the tree and the wire, to cushion it.
Looks are deceiving...
Does that sound easy? Ha!! my lower back is sore, my fingernails are sore, and my fingertips still feel like they're on fire. Ouch, that stuff really began to chafe after about 100 trees, and it wasn't easy to stretch! Gloves just got in the way, unfortunately. But it was the meticulous kind of work that I enjoy, and I could eavesdrop let the conversation flow around me as I bounced back and forth among the rows ;)
So now, my bank account has a little more padding and my neighbor has 300 more trees planted, with my help! It felt so good to be planting trees; the Arbor Day Foundation has quite a lengthy list of ways in which trees are good for both the environment and the living things in it, such as
- removing pollution
- providing oxygen
- cleaning water
- cooling the earth
- providing habitat
- relieving stress :)
All of which is fantastic for the Earth! In addition to those things, my neighbor is actually setting up this whole venture as a ministry (the Husband's mind is still boggled) rather than as a for-profit business...his vision is to create a place where families can come spend the day, hang out and have fun, picking fruit and berries that they can take home for affordable prices. So these trees will one day provide children with fresh local produce and (hopefully) happy memories of fun times in the countryside. That's got to be good for the world somehow!
Grow well, brave little trees!
That was my "new thing I learned today" and interesting new experience that did just a little bit to make the world a better place <3
#homesteadingchallenge
P.S. And just to make you smile, I leave you...Clyde the miniature goat!
:)
