Fruit trees
Mar 11th, 2009 by Amy
All eleven fruit trees arrived within a couple days late last week, so we have been digging a lot since last weekend. So far, we have seven of them planted - with two pears and two cherries left to plant. The Danube cherry and Mirabelle plum were purchased from Raintree and the rest were purchased from Earth’s Rising Farm (no website, see this post for contact info). Here is a list of our fruit trees planted (or soon to be) on our 1/3 acre lot:
Apples
Golden russet - A russet apple known for making good cider. Delbert at Earth’s Rising recommended it when I told him we wanted to make cider.
Gravenstein - This is the classic Oregon apple. We have been buying them to make applesauce and apple pie filling the last few years.
Melrose - We chose this heirloom variety because it is a “good keeper” and a tasty heirloom.
Cherries
Montmorency - Sour pie cherry. Self fertile, meaning that it does not need another cherry for pollination. We will make pie filling, and maybe pickled cherries with these.
Danube - A new introduction from Raintree. Danube is a Hungarian cherry and is a cross between a sweet and tart cherry. Also self fertile. I learned about the variety from a friend that discovered them in the Midwest.
Rainier - Matt’s request and our guests favorite food at our wedding.
Van - This is primarily for pollinating the Rainier. It is a bing-like cherry more compatible with the maritime Northwest.
Pears
Comice - A winter pear that we chose because it’s known for being a good keeper.
Shannon - Another winter pear. We chose this one because Delbert said that he gets calls from people that used to buy it from a Portland area orchard.
Plums/prunes
Geneva Mirabelle - Our other Raintree purchase. Mirabelles are a specialty of France and are mostly used for compotes, canning, and making jams. We also plan to try our hand at making plum brandy with the juice. This particular variety is freestone and has yellow skin with red dots and yellow flesh.
Italian prune - Also freestone, but with purple skin and yellow flesh. We chose this one because it is great for drying and canning.
If you are thinking about planting fruit trees, I recommend doing some research in the Raintree and Earth’s Rising Farm catalogs . After you look through the catalogs, be sure to give Delbert a call. He was able to provide recommendations on varieties when I told him what we wanted to do with the fruit. Raintree has a much larger selection with many European and lesser known varieties. Based on looks, Earth’s Rising trees seem superior, however. The trees were a bit larger and are in better shape.
Fruit tree maintenance also requires pruning and thinning. For an introduction, Matt and I attended a pruning class by the Extension Service at the Urban Farm about a month ago. For Lane County residents, you can find a list of this year’s pruning classes provided by the Extension Service here. We also purchased the American Horticultural Society’s Pruning & Training book that was recommended by our family garden expert, sister-in-law Abby. This weekend we will prune our newly planted apples and pears. We will hold off on pruning the cherries and plums until they leaf out. Pruning stone fruits in our rainy, damp winter can lead to silver leaf disease.
I second Matt’s request for Rainier. Put me to work - I hear backyard projects are excellent for pre-wedding workouts
I don’t have the space for fruit trees, but I enjoyed reading about the different kinds. I wish I could find Melrose apples here, since a good storing apple is always in demand and it’d be good to get some new flavors.
Oh, the Irish soda bread is on tap for this weekend, I’ll keep you posted
wonderful! What a bounty you’ll be having - do you have a dehydrator on that wish list too?! We planted 2 figs last year and can’t wait to start plucking, eating, cooking, can, and dry. Well, maybe not this year, but in seasons to come. Congrats on all your new arrivals =)
Ex-sigh-ting! I was hoping for pictures! I have to live my fruit tree dreams through you, my dear.
Nicole - We do have an extra shovel and I hope to be planting blueberries in the next week.
Mangochild - If you ever come to the west coast, we will share our bounty with you. And the soda bread… really good still. Usually soda bread gets kind of blah after a few days, but it is still good 5 days and counting.
Rebecca - We do have a dehydrator already. Phew! We put a fig in about 4-5 years ago. We got a dozen or so figs the first few years. It really started to produce last year. Pretty soon we’ll be making fig compote, fig chutney, fig everything.
Eugenia - Matt actually took pictures of me with trees last weekend digging in the snow, and head to toe in mud. Will post if he remembers to bring his camera home from work.
Avery & I cannot wait to enjoy your bounty in our annual visits to Eugene! Good work!
What a lovely post! So many people want to plant fruit, but don’t have the gorgeous space that you have–I recently posted on the perfect small-yard fruit tree in my blog, The Tangled Nest:
http://thetanglednest.com/2009/03/the-perfect-backyard-fruit-tree-four-asian-pears-in-one/
Best of luck with your new orchard!
Ally - Part of the motivation for all the fruit is so Avery will always want to come visit!
Lyanda - Thank you for visiting. We are really lucky with our space, but we really had to tuck trees in every available spot to get enough space for 11!