DIY garden: which seedlings to buy, which trees to get rid of. Fruit trees and berry bushes in a small garden What fruit trees can

Big garden- This is the dream of every gardener. In it you can realize all your dreams and ideas regarding the number of different decorative, fruit and berry crops. On a large land area, you don’t have to worry about saving space; such a problem does not even arise. But gardeners who have a small garden plot will have to work hard to properly and competently plan and organize the planting of all types of plants. After all, you want to get a good harvest, and build a beautiful flower garden, and maybe even a small lawn.

On a limited land area it is necessary to use non-standard solutions from experienced landscape designers, gardeners and flower growers who will help place fruit trees And berry bushes even really small space. This is only possible if ornamental and fruit crops are adjacent to each other and interspersed with each other. A familiar orchard can easily become a picturesque area consisting of flowering ornamental plants and fruit and berry trees and bushes. At first it seems like a difficult task, but the result is worth it.

In order for different types of plants to fully develop and not interfere with each other, it is necessary to select them according to the following principles:

  • According to the place of cultivation.
  • According to soil requirements.
  • According to the illumination of the area.

Neighboring crops with similar requirements will not only get along well, but will also bring benefits in the form of a high-quality harvest and decorative appeal. There are many options for replacing an ornamental plant with a fruit plant.

Coniferous tree – for fruit tree (plum, cherry, apple tree)

If on garden plot pines and spruces grow, you can replace one of these trees with an equally attractive apple tree or another fruit tree, which will maintain the decorativeness of the composition in any season. After all, branches of pine needles in combination with branches flowering tree in spring, from lush green crown in summer period and a scattering of fruits shining in the sun in the fall look great next to each other and are a complete composition. Only in winter period, when fruit trees stand without foliage, the aesthetic appearance is slightly compromised, but the harvest has been harvested and preparations for the winter have been made.

Thuja - on raspberry bushes, boxwood - on blackberries or rose hips

A hedge on the site, consisting of thuja or boxwood bushes, which acts as a dense plant screen, can become half fruit and berry. This addition will only give it uniqueness and charm and will be able to protect it from uninvited guests and curious glances. A hedge of thuja and raspberry bushes will look great and attract attention with its juicy green and bright red splashes of berries against its background.

If hedge located on a trellis, try replacing individual ornamental plant specimens with blackberry bushes, which will not only look elegant, but also produce large harvests. Well, initially you can create such a barrier from several types of wild fruit and berry plantings. How many benefits will the fruits of rose hips, sea buckthorn or hawthorn bring! Their care is minimal, and the result is a considerable harvest. healthy berries and a wonderful garden decoration.

In a limited garden area, you can use standard forms of fruit crops that will not overload the overall landscape, but will become elements dividing the garden plot into zones. Such plants can be planted in a straight line or in a semicircle to define a recreation area or a children's clearing.

Roses - for Japanese quince or gooseberries

An important role on personal plot flower beds and flower beds play. Roses are often their real decoration and most important pride. various types and varieties. These traditional ornamental shrubs can be replaced with gooseberry or quince bushes, lingonberries or blueberries.

Ground cover plants - for garden strawberries

Numerous species ground cover plants used in the garden not only for decoration, comfort, filling space, but to protect against weeds. They cover any area with a dense carpet and create a clearing pleasing to the eye. No worse appearance and a clearing made of garden strawberries. This perennial looks very impressive and brings a large number of useful fruits over 3-4 seasons.

Clematis and wisteria - for grapes and actinidia

Grapes and a close relative of kiwi, actinidia, can become worthy, attractive and useful decorations for buildings and walls of houses. You can also use trellises, along which the plants will quickly climb up and not take up much space in the garden.

For garden areas with a minimum area, there is also an excellent option for landscaping and beautifying the area with fruit plants. Standard forms of berry and fruit crops that grow in tubs will come to the rescue. Their disadvantage is a small harvest, but such plants can be placed in any part of the garden, as well as on the terrace, loggia, balcony and in a variety of non-standard places.

When growing fruit crops in tubs, it is very important to choose the right container (usually big size), fill it with a high-quality and suitable soil mixture (not ordinary soil from the garden) and regularly apply appropriate fertilizers throughout the spring-summer, and for some, the autumn season.

In tubs you can grow the most different cultures– grapes, strawberries and strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, peach, almonds, apples, pears and many others. Berry crops can grow well in tubs in combination with ornamental plants. A balcony or terrace can become a real orchard, because containers and tubs won’t require much space, and if you have a trellis, even the walls will turn into decorative decoration of dense foliage or a variety of flowers.

Experienced gardeners It is recommended that when creating such a complex planting, it is necessary to take into account the requirements of plants. Each crop must receive sufficient heat, water, lighting and nutrition. IN mixed plantings It is also worth paying attention to the height of the plants and planting them alternately - low-growing ones (flowering crops) in the foreground, and tall ones (pear trees, apple trees, rose hips) in the background.

Rules for planning a garden plot (video)

In order to grow a garden of fruit trees on your site, you need not only to decide on the location and plants, but also to take into account the main nuances, such as the planting pattern, the size of the holes, planting and caring for seedlings, which will be discussed in this article.

Garden layout

When a place for planting seedlings has been selected, it is important to decide on a scheme for planting them. It is recommended to plant trees according to four schemes, which have their own characteristics of plant arrangement, simplify the process of caring for seedlings and obtain a bountiful harvest.

The most common planting pattern is quadratic: it allows you to create convenient conditions for caring for the garden. According to this scheme, trees are planted in even rows. The distance between trees depends on their type and variety.

Important! It is also necessary to take into account the planting pattern in order to rationally use the space, so on a square plot it is better to arrange trees according to a quadratic pattern.

If you have been selected dwarf varieties, optimal distance between rows will be 4 m, between trees you need to leave 2.5 m. Classic views, which were grafted onto a wild rootstock, should be planted at a distance of at least 3.5 m from each other, 5 m between rows. Tall and vigorous species should be 4 m apart, 6 m between rows.

The quadratic planting scheme is suitable for trees that are not demanding on lighting and normally tolerate partial shade created by adjacent rows. Typically, apple trees of different varieties and some varieties of pears are planted this way.

Chess

The chess pattern is very similar to the quadratic one, only in each square between four trees one more tree is planted. The scheme is more dense, therefore suitable for planting medium-sized plants with a small crown. If the garden is located on a slope, then the checkerboard pattern will be the best option planting trees to reduce soil loss by precipitation.
The checkerboard method of planting allows trees to receive maximum amount light, therefore suitable for light-loving plants - plum, apricot, peach, as well as apple and pear trees. The distance between trees should be 4 m; it is better to leave 5 m between rows.

Planting trees in a triangular pattern is characterized by a denser arrangement of plants with a large crown. According to the triangular scheme, all trees will be level, which will allow planting 15% more plants than according to the quadratic scheme.

To find out the optimal distance between plants, you must follow the rule of doubling the maximum crown width of an adult tree. For example, if the crown width is 4 m, then there should be a distance of at least 8 m between plants on all sides.
Thanks to the triangular planting pattern, plants can receive the maximum amount of light. Cherry, apple, pear, plum, apricot, and peach are suitable for planting with this scheme.

Horizontal scheme

A horizontal planting scheme is used when trees are located on a hilly area. In this case, plants are planted along horizontal lines, which makes it possible to reduce soil erosion processes and successfully grow seedlings on uneven areas. For fruit plantings, choose an elevated area, preferably in the south of the site. Fruit trees must be planted in such a way that the maximum height of the trunks is directed to the north.
Thanks to this arrangement, the plants are provided the largest number Sveta. The distance between them in this case should be at least 3 meters, between the rows - at least 5. Any fruit trees are suitable for planting horizontally.

Planting a garden

When the planting scheme has been determined, it is necessary to begin selecting and purchasing seedlings that will then take root on the site.

Selection of fruit crops

In order for plants to bear fruit well, you need to be able to choose them correctly. Therefore, pay attention to the recommended growing region, soil and other conditions. There are special varieties that have been bred for each region: they easily tolerate frosty winters, different types soils are less sensitive to adverse weather conditions. Let's consider the basic recommendations for planting trees that thrive in mid-latitudes.

The most popular fruit plant in mid-latitudes is the apple tree. This crop is light-loving, so it is better to plant it in a well-lit area. The apple tree can grow on gray forest soils, soddy-podzolic soils, and chernozems, which have a light mechanical composition with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction. The tree does not tolerate excess moisture well, so plant it on small hills, in areas with deep groundwater - at least 1.5 m deep.

Did you know? Apple orchards in the world cover 5 million hectares, and every third fruit tree in the world is an apple tree.

It is recommended to plant the pear on the south side of the site, since areas with harsh winters often cause trees to freeze. The site must be well protected from the wind, which is especially important in winter. Pear grows well in moist soils, groundwater should be no closer than 1 m to the soil surface. The ideal soil for pears is loamy, sandy loam or slightly podzolic.
Cherries prefer warmer regions with more sunlight and warmth. It is not recommended to plant the seedling in lowlands, since cherries have poor winter hardiness and often freeze out. It is necessary to choose a well-ventilated area - this way you can avoid many tree diseases. As for the soil, cherries prefer fertile soils with a light mechanical composition, characterized by high air permeability. Cherries are planted on light and medium loams, which allows for maximum yield.

Plum also prefers well-lit areas, so it is necessary to plant seedlings on the south side of the site, on a damp clay soil with a thick fertile layer and a neutral reaction. Plum also grows normally in northern regions, but subject to compliance with basic recommendations for planting and caring for the plant. Apricots grow well in mid-latitudes and subtropics in maximally illuminated areas with plenty of sunlight and heat. Apricot trees must be well protected from northern winds: they can be located on slopes and in places that are inaccessible to cold air.
It is better to plant the tree on light, well-drained soils. Peaches are planted in southern regions with plenty of heat and sunlight because they are not resistant to severe frosts, which damage the fruit buds. Peaches grow well on light loams with high breathability and drainage; a prerequisite is high-quality protection from the wind.

How to choose and buy seedlings

It is important not only to choose the right place for planting seedlings, but also the planting material itself, in order to ensure good survival of the tree and obtain consistently high yields in the future.

Important! It is preferable to buy seedlings from nurseries, avoiding markets and other dubious places.

First of all, you need to pay attention to the age of the tree: it is optimal to purchase planting material that is two years old; older trees have a low survival rate. Look carefully at the root system of the seedlings - it should be healthy and contain, in addition to skeletal ones, numerous growing roots. Do not buy trees that have knots, thickenings, growths, nodules, or other dubious formations on the roots.
The minimum number of skeletal roots for a two-year-old seedling is 3; it is preferable to choose seedlings that contain more than 3. Do not buy trees that have severe mechanical damage to the roots caused by improper digging. The height of a two-year-old seedling must be at least 1.5 meters, healthy trees contains three lateral branches that are evenly distributed along the trunk. The bark should be smooth and free of any scratches or cracks.

Did you know? There is an interesting method for determining how long a dug tree will be stored: you need to clamp a tree branch between a large and index finger, and if the seedling is fresh, then a slight coolness will emanate from the tree, and if the seedling has dried outyou will feel warm.

Preparation of planting holes

Depending on the type of fruit tree, the planting hole is prepared different sizes And different shapes, but for almost all trees, round pits with steep walls are best suited, which can ensure normal development of the root system. The size of a hole dug in cultivated soil with a deep fertile layer should be about 70 cm in diameter and 70 cm in depth.

If a tree is planted on an area being developed for the first time, the size of the hole will increase three times, since it will need to be filled with sufficient quantity nutrient mixture, which in the future will serve as a reservoir of substances necessary for the normal development of a young seedling. Heavy clay and sandy soils require digging a hole 1 m in diameter and 1 m in depth. Experienced gardeners advise digging wider and shallower holes in dense clay soil so that water does not stagnate in their lower layers - this will have a detrimental effect on plant roots.
If planting will be done in the spring, then holes must be dug in autumn period the previous year, if planting will be done in the fall, then the hole is dug in May-June. This is necessary so that the fertilizers that have been applied to the soil are well mixed and mature, that is, they form the necessary microbiological environment.

Rules for planting trees

Depending on the type of fruit tree, there are standards for the size of the hole, planting time and other nuances that need to be considered:

  1. Apple trees often planted in spring period, if the seedling is not older than 2 years, so that over the summer the tree takes root, grows and survives wintering normally. Spring planting should occur in early May - late April, when the soil has already thawed and warmed up a little. If the seedling will be planted in the spring, the hole can be prepared a week before planting. The size of the hole will depend on the soil: if it is quite fertile, then 60 cm in depth and in diameter will be enough, if the soil is poor, then the depth should be at least 70 cm and the diameter should be 80 cm. Seedlings 3-4 years old can be planted in the fall , since they are no longer afraid of a strong tree winter frosts. It is better to plant in early October so that the roots have time to strengthen before winter. In autumn, it is recommended to plant young trees in the southern regions with fertile soil. The hole is dug the same size as in the case of spring planting, but it is prepared a month before planting.
  2. Pear can be planted both in spring and autumn. Spring planting (at the end of April) eliminates the possibility of the tree dying from frost. It is better to prepare the pit in advance, in the fall of the previous year. During this time, the soil will shrink, and after planting the seedling, the root collar will not deepen much, which guarantees normal survival of the plant. The hole should be about a meter wide and about 50 cm deep. If the soil is poor, then dig a deeper hole and fill it with several buckets of fertile soil. As in the case of the apple tree, the pear is planted in the southern regions in the fall, which allows the seedling to take root normally. In addition, a pear that was planted in the fall and survived the winter will be stronger and more resistant to future frosts. Digging a hole better in spring, the size of the hole in depth is 50 cm, diameter is 1 m, and planting should be done in early October.
  3. Apricot in the spring it is recommended to plant before the buds on the seedlings have awakened - in mid-April. The pit is prepared in the fall, its minimum size is 70 cm in depth and 70 cm in diameter. Preparing the pit for autumn planting should be carried out a month, or even two. The required width is 1 m and the depth is 80 cm. The optimal time for planting is considered to be the beginning of October.
  4. Cherry often planted in spring (end of April), especially middle zone and northern regions, since over the summer the seedling grows, becomes stronger and tolerates wintering normally. The hole should be dug in advance better in autumn, its depth should be at least 50 cm, diameter - 80 cm. In autumn, planting cherries is practiced only in the southern regions, sometimes in the middle zone. Optimal time for planting - the end of September, so that the tree gets stronger before the first frost hits. The pit is prepared in the spring, the size is the same as in the case of planting in the spring.
  5. Peach is heat-loving plant, therefore, even in the southern regions, planting is carried out in the spring (late April). The pit is prepared in advance, preferably in the fall; the size of the pit should be at least 70 cm in depth and 1 m in diameter.
  6. prefers spring planting in the middle zone and in the northern regions; in the southern regions, planting seedlings is most often practiced in the autumn. In spring, plums are planted at the end of April in a pre-prepared hole. It is better to prepare the pit in the fall, add organic fertilizers, which over a sufficiently long period of time will rot and create ideal conditions for a young seedling. The hole should be at least 60 cm deep and 70 cm wide, more is possible. In the fall, at the beginning of October, the plum is planted in a hole that was dug in the spring and fertilized with organic matter, the size of the hole is 60x70 cm.

Did you know?Unlike other fruit trees, plums cannot be found wild in nature. The plum was obtained by crossing sloe and cherry plum more than 2 thousand years ago.

How to care for newly planted trees

When the seedlings are planted in the soil, at first you should pay special attention to regular watering. The frequency of watering depends on weather conditions and regularity of precipitation. The minimum amount of water that needs to be poured under one tree is 20 liters at a time. You need to water once every 2-4 weeks. It is recommended to check the soil for moisture with a stick: if the surface of the soil has dried out by 20 cm, it’s time to water the seedling.

The area around the seedling should be mulched - this is necessary in order to create a favorable environment for the root system, retain moisture in the summer, and slow down the growth of weeds. The mulch is poured in a fairly thick layer (15 cm) at a distance of 1-2 meters from the trunk - use sawdust, straw. The circle around the trunk is regularly loosened and freed from weeds. It is especially important to loosen the soil after watering, when water compacts it. Loosening is carried out to a depth of no more than 5 cm, so as not to damage the young roots.
Necessarily young tree It should be insulated for the winter so that it can withstand frost normally. Insulating the trunk will also help protect the bark from attacks by rodents, which gnaw it in winter, which leads to the death of the seedling. The procedure is carried out in early November, tying the lower part of the trunk with spruce branches at least 70 cm in height. Trees are whitewashed twice a year – in autumn and spring. Autumn whitewashing is carried out on a sunny, not rainy day at the end of September, and spring whitewashing should be carried out during the period of light frosts, when the first insects have not yet appeared.

It is rare that the owner of a private house prefers not to plant fruit trees on his property. Orchard Usually everyone wants to have one - in the spring trees delight with beautiful blossoms and aroma, and fruits and berries from own garden They always seem much tastier than those bought in a store or market, and besides, you know that these are environmentally friendly products. In the art of Feng Shui, the image of a blooming orchard is a symbol of abundance and prosperity. Planning a garden is a responsible matter; their growth and ability to bear fruit will depend on how correctly you plant the trees, so this task must be treated with great attention.

If you also want to grow vegetables in your garden, the layout of the garden and vegetable garden should be considered together. It is better to allocate space for the beds at the southern border, from north to south, this is better for crops growing in the middle zone. Some gardeners recommend placing beds from east to west. Behind the vegetable and strawberry (strawberry) beds there are fruit bushes - currants, gooseberries. Trees are planted behind the bushes; light shade from trees will not harm berry bushes, and vegetable beds should be in the sun.

Example of vegetable bed design - they do not have to be square or rectangular shape, the original beds resemble flower beds

Before you start planning your garden, you need to take into account the following important factors:

  • What size is the area Can be allocated for an orchard. For trees with spreading crowns, a distance of 4 sq.m. will be required.
  • Terrain. For an orchard, flat terrain or a gentle slope would be ideal; cold air and excess moisture are retained in the depressions; these areas are unfavorable for fruit trees.
  • Soil analysis of your site. Fruit crops have a powerful root system; the soil must be fertile to provide it with good nutrition. Rocky, clayey, sandy soil not suitable for the garden. The proximity of groundwater has a negative effect on tree growth.
  • Availability of heat and light. For most fruit trees, it is important to have plenty of light and heat; in the shade they grow and bear fruit much worse. It should also be said about areas with constant strong wind - the wind interferes with normal pollination, dries out the soil, often damages crops and breaks tree branches. A high fence or green spaces can partially protect from winds.

Planning begins with a diagram on paper. If there is already a house on the site, you need to start planning from there. A scale diagram of the site, the contours of the house and other buildings, as well as places where trees already grow, are drawn on paper.

This area is protected from the wind by trees planted around it, which have already grown enough to provide protection

If the site has not yet been developed, the location for building a house is marked on the diagram. The layout of the garden on the site assumes the presence of a front garden. The house should face the street, leaving a strip of land in front of it for the front garden. Its size depends on the area of ​​the plot - for some it is only a meter, for others it is 6-8 meters. In a small front garden, flowers, raspberries and berry bushes are usually planted, in a large one - ornamental trees, flowers or several fruit trees at the discretion of the owners.

For large fruit trees - apple trees, pears, allocate a place in the north-eastern side of the site, between them and fruit and berry bushes - a place for smaller trees - cherries, plums.

An example of the layout of a garden and vegetable garden - the plot is divided into two parts. In the first half there is a house surrounded by a front garden and vegetable beds, the second half is an orchard with trees planted in rows

In general, it will be convenient to draw a plan of the site, mark on it all the existing buildings, the expected location of the garden and vegetable garden. On the site you need to mark holes for planting trees. Try to plant trees at a distance so that as they grow they do not shade each other. Clumped bushes and trees in the garden do not grow well; in addition, conditions are created for diseases garden crops. Fruit trees have a powerful root system and must develop freely.

Advice. If your site is overgrown with wild bushes, there are stumps on it that need to be uprooted, do the necessary work and burn the woody debris. Collect the ash in a dry place; it will be useful when creating fertile beds.

Usually, the layout of an orchard involves planting trees in such a way that they do not shade the neighbors’ plots, but there are often cases when a tree grows right next to the fence, providing fruit to both the owners and neighbors, and no one has any complaints.

Today it is fashionable to give the beds an original shape, for example, a pizza garden. The highlight is that from the round bed in the center the rest ray out like slices of pizza, forming a circle

Raspberries, blackberries or berry bushes are usually planted at the borders of the site, which bear fruit well even in the shade.

Landscape and regular planning

Below we give examples of garden layouts for those who like order and clarity of form and for those who like it when the plants in the orchard are planted according to the same pattern, but create the impression of natural areas.

Landscape planning involves the arrangement of trees and other crops in a free order, close to natural. In such a garden, in addition to fruit crops, decorative crops are also widely used.

An example of a free garden layout - vegetable beds on the left and top, fruit trees planted in groups in the center and on the right

With regular planning, trees and shrubs, as well as vegetables in the garden bed, are planted in strict rows at the same distance. The landing scheme also has a strict geometric shape- a square for areas whose length and width are almost equal, and a rectangle for areas whose length is much greater than the width.

An example of a regular layout of a garden with a vegetable garden - clear geometry, the area is divided into regular squares, rectangles, plants are planted in rows

Where are the best crops to plant?

These are trees and shrubs that grow well and bear fruit in your latitudes. For the middle zone these are pears, apple trees (it is advisable to plant several trees of different varieties), different varieties plums and cherry plums, cherries. Cherries and apricots will ripen in warm latitudes. Berry bushes - all varieties of currants, gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries. If the area of ​​the plot is small, it is convenient to place shrubs around the perimeter.

If you plant several apple trees, including summer, autumn and winter apple trees, the fruits will delight you at different times of the year

An example of an interesting layout of a vegetable garden - paths diverge from a square of slabs in the center, between which there are beds, with different crops planted on each of the beds. Feel free to approach any of them

In vegetable beds nearby, you need to plant crops that grow well in close proximity to each other:

  • cabbage, cucumbers, peas;
  • white cabbage, dill, potatoes, onions, lettuce, celery;
  • tomatoes, peas, carrots;
  • horseradish, potatoes, beans, onions, cabbage.

When you draw a diagram, decide which plants to plant and in what quantity, you can begin marking the garden on the ground, buy seedlings and prepare the soil.

Planting without site preparation: straight onto the lawn, into virgin soil, into heavily trampled earth, etc.

Consequences. Young plants suffer, die or live, but hardly bear fruit.

How right. There should be at least 1 square meter around each landing point. m of loose and fertile soil. It is not worth planting fruit and berry crops in virgin soil at all: it is better to postpone planting for a year and dig up the area (next season you can grow annual flowers, zucchini or other vegetables on it). At least 1 square meter should be removed from the lawn. m of turf, dig a lawn strip around the perimeter, add 1 bucket of humus to the ground, dig it up, and then make a planting hole.

Error 2

Plants are planted too close to each other.

Consequences. Overgrown trees and shrubs quickly begin to interfere with each other.

Distances between fruit plants

*If there are different crops in the same row, then the distance between them is calculated using approximate formulas:

Distance = (plant spacing 1 + plant spacing 2) : 2

Distance = (expected maximum adult height of plant 1 + expected maximum adult height of plant 2) : 3.

Error 3

No landing hole: Instead, the plant is offered a hole the size of the root system or a container.

Consequences. Very weak growth, poor harvest.

How right. A planting hole (average size 40 x 40 x 40 cm for berries and 60 x 60 x 60 cm for fruit crops) is required in all areas where there is no close groundwater.

Error 4

Unsuitable substrate for planting: the plant is placed directly on compost pit or completely fill the hole with humus, soil from the forest and other foreign substances.

Consequences. The plant is sick, sinks deep or leans towards the ground.

How right. For all crops except blueberries, lingonberries and cranberries, the planting hole under the roots should be filled with local soil with additives to improve its properties, and the root system itself should be covered with soil without any additives.

Classic planting technology

When excavating soil from a hole for planting, a mound of dark fertile layer is kept next to it, and the light soil from the lower horizons is discarded (in the aisle or to another place). When planting large (in the future) plants - apple trees, pears, cherries - a reliable stake 2 m high is driven into the bottom of the hole. Part of the dark soil is mixed at the bottom of the hole with humus, and a complex mixture is added mineral fertilizer according to the instructions, ash, other additives for soil improvement (sand for heavy soil, a little clay for sandy, lowland peat, etc.). Sprinkle the mound of the resulting mixture with clean soil, install the seedling at the recommended depth and cover it with dark soil. During the planting process, the soil is trampled down with feet if the seedling was with bare roots, or crushed with hands if the plant is a potted plant. Be sure to water abundantly, and after absorbing moisture, sprinkle the tree trunk circle with dry soil. Currants, gooseberries, honeysuckle are cut at a height of 5-7 cm from the ground, fruit seedlings are tied to a peg with a figure eight.

How to bury seedlings

You will need a non-wet spot in an area where the snow will not melt off first. There they dig a hole (for one or two seedlings) or a ditch (if there are more) with two shovel bayonets. The excavated soil is poured with a roller on one side. Seedlings without packaging are wrapped in plastic mesh or covered with spruce branches (to protect against mice) and placed in a recess with the stem on a cushion. Plants in pots are placed on a substrate of sawdust, fallen leaves or other loose material and surround the container on all sides (otherwise it will be difficult to get it out in the spring). Then they throw the soil taken nearby with compaction - you should get a mound as high as the first mound.

Error 5

"Temporary" landing: owners if it is impossible to find appropriate place or comply with all the rules and terms of planting; if there are doubts about the quality of seedlings, plants are often planted “temporarily” in completely inappropriate places or several in one hole. Seedlings in containers are sometimes transferred to a larger pot, which is left to stand on the site.

Consequences. As a rule, the owner who has planted the seedlings relaxes and is in no hurry to solve the problem that prevented him from planting them properly right away. As a result, trees or bushes suffer in a “temporary apartment” for years until they die or wait for a very traumatic and difficult move to a normal place. A seedling in a pot left standing on the ground runs the risk of freezing in winter.

How right. Temporary planting until next autumn is permissible only for small one-year-old seedlings, and only for good garden bed at intervals of at least 30-40 cm from each other. In other cases, it is better not to plant the plants, but to dig them in until spring.

“For this hell, for this nonsense, send me a garden for my old age.” But in order to meet old age in a beautiful fruit garden, you need to plant it now. In this article we will tell you what trees to plant on the site, how to place them correctly and how FORUMHOUSE participants do it.

  • At what distance should fruit trees and shrubs be planted?
  • Where to plant non-self-pollinating plants.
  • How fruit crops depend on the sun and wind.
  • On which slopes should fruit trees be planted?

Distance between plants

According to science, an orchard is planted in a place protected from the wind and well lit by the sun, ideally if there is room for the plants.

Large apple trees are planted at a distance of 6-15 meters from each other, standard cherries and plums - 1.5-3 meters.

In this photo, the distance between the trees is 5 meters.

To properly arrange garden plantings, it is necessary to maintain a distance not only between plants, but also between the plants and the neighboring area. For trees in an orchard, it is usually half the row spacing. If the row spacing is six meters, then the distance to the border with the neighboring plot is three meters. Fruit bushes It is allowed to plant at a distance of 70-80 cm. In order not to make a mistake with planting, it is better to first draw a plan of the garden.

But in reality, there are not many huge areas with unlimited resources for planting large-sized apple trees, so no one can maintain a distance of 15 meters between each tree. In practice it turns out that for successful cultivation adhere to this condition when disembarking planting material and optional.

Palyonka FORUMHOUSE Member

In practice, you need to plant them 5 meters apart, if you estimate that each will have a crown measuring 2.5 meters in diameter. But whether your specific garden plots allow you to arrange plants this way is another question.

When planting fruit trees and shrubs in the garden on your site, you can use our table as a guide.

At what distance is it better to place fruit crops in a garden plot?

Plant

Distance between plants (m)

Row spacing (m)

Apple tree, pear tree

Cherry, plum

2,5-3,0/3,0

Currants, gooseberries

Raspberries

Japonica

Sea ​​buckthorn

Tall pears and apple trees on seed rootstock are planted according to a 5x5 pattern (at a distance of at least 5 meters in a row and 5-6 between rows), medium-sized apple trees using a 4X4 pattern, and semi-dwarf trees using a 3X3 pattern.

The raspberry field can be divided into two parts, leaving a fence no more than a meter wide between them: ordinary varieties can be planted in one, remontant varieties can be planted in the other. They bear fruit at different times, and their agricultural technology is different.

It would be optimal to plant trees and shrubs in the garden in a checkerboard pattern, especially if you are planting a garden in the “roadside” part of the garden and want to protect your house or recreation area from the views of your neighbors. By the way, green spaces reduce noise levels, this property must be used.

Andrey Vasilyev, a consultant in the “Fruit Garden” section at FORUMHOUSE, plants plum and bush cherries on the plot at a distance of three meters between the trees. Currant and gooseberry bushes are at a distance of 1-1.5 meters from one another, a meter is not enough.

Andrey Vasiliev Consultant for the "Orchard" section at FORUMHOUSE

You can also plant it between the trees, while they are growing, the berry plant is already producing its fruit, and it will not be difficult to move it (by cutting off part of the bush in the fall) later, if the variety is very good.

The consultant of our portal recommends planting raspberries “separately, but not in the shade.” And when planting honeysuckle, she advises not to forget that its bushes grow quite large - two meters in diameter and the same height, and place them on the site taking these dimensions into account.

Another important point, which must be taken into account when planting fruit plants in the garden - whether they are self-pollinating or not. If not, you need to add it to the planting plan and be sure to plant a plant of a different variety nearby.

SB3 FORUMHOUSE Member

We plant a self-pollinating cherry with the name Y and next to it the same one with the name Z. If cherry Y is alone next to the pears, there will be no berries.

toliam1 FORUMHOUSE Consultant

It is better to plant fruits in the form of a “tree-orchard”, when there are several mutually pollinating varieties on one trunk.

And it is better to group single-varietal breeds by breed so that cross-pollination is possible.

Sun, wind and shadow

Shading for fruit trees is undesirable; on the site they should be illuminated as much as possible by the sun from morning to evening. If a gardener still has to plant a tree in partial shade, let it be a pear. The pear is the tallest fruit plant; there are practically no pears on a dwarf rootstock, therefore, no matter how much attention you pay to it, no matter how much you prune it, it will grow 5-6 meters high. Therefore, it is not scary if a pear tree is planted next to a bathhouse or another outbuilding and finds itself in its shade for half a day. In five or six years, this large tree will grow taller than the tallest building on the plot.

Fruit trees on the site are protected from the prevailing winter winds (by a building, a fence, etc.). It’s easy to determine which wind direction will be dominant in your winter - look at which side of the house has less snow (sometimes it is literally swept to the ground). If there is little snow on the east side, it means that the winter wind blows mainly from the west, and so on.

Andrey Vasiliev

Everything tall goes to the north, everything tender goes to best places under cover from the prevailing winter winds.

It is better to plant the plum exactly where all the snow is blown away by strong winds. Plum has a tendency to become damp and does not tolerate places where snow accumulates; where there is even a small snowdrift, a little more than 40 cm, the plum will not grow.

Groundwater

Fruit trees grow poorly in areas with close groundwater. For successful growth and development, apple and pear trees need an area with a groundwater level of two meters, or better yet, further. In summer cottages with close groundwater, these trees with large roots do not grow for longer than 10 years and do not have time to form a large crown. Therefore, if there is no other choice, they can be planted close to each other (2 meters) and alternately renewed every 10 years. Grow normal trees and get enough from them good harvests You won’t get fruit any other way.

In stone fruits root systems they do not go so deep into the depths, so they can be planted in suburban areas where groundwater is at a depth of 1.5 m and further; for berry crops the depth may be less.

Relief and landscape planning

The best for gardens are those with a slope of less than 8°. In most regions, the southern, southwestern and southeastern slopes are considered the best for gardening; they always have more sun and higher air and soil temperatures. But this advantage can also turn into a disadvantage: in such areas it is warmer, so in the spring the plants on them bloom earlier, often at the height of the season. spring frosts. For this reason, fruit crops should not be planted on eastern slopes. summer cottage: after freezing, which seizes flowering plants, on the eastern slope they thaw too quickly.

Experts advise planting gardens in the middle part of the slope, because winds always blow at the top and there is not enough moisture, and at the bottom, on the contrary, it is too wet and cold. There is no need to create gardens in holes and hollows where fog flows in the morning. The cold air that stagnates in them is harmful to plants; these places are especially dangerous during frosts.

Try to perceive the “comfort” of the garden not as if the trees were planted in the garden 5-10 years ago, and the garden can already be called a garden.