We were also put off by most books/webpages which suggest giving the trees plenty of room to grow. A fine suggestion if you have plenty of room, but we dont.
Others suggest that trees could be 'espaliered' (grown along a fence) and which takes up less room but produce more fruit for the area. There are also various pruning techniques which are designed to keep the trees small and productive. We've decided to plant apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums and pears close together and keep them small. There is also a cumquat tree, and a couple of 'dwarf' peach trees.
The apple trees will be espaliered along a fence since they are apparently most suitable for that technique. Apparently there's a bit more time to safely plant the apple trees, and we will be doing those in the next couple of weeks. We've pretty much run out of room for citrus trees like oranges and mandarins, but I'm sure we can squeeze them in somewhere.
It has cost a bit, but not as much as might be expected. The fruit trees have been between $20-$25 each, except for the 'dwarf' peach trees which were $45 each.
The fruit tree list so far;
Apricot (2)
Nectarine (2)
Plum (2)
Peach (3, 1 regular and 2 dwarf)
Pear (2)
Cumquat (1)
Apple (5)
As you can see the ground here is virtually 100% sand. We might as well be growing in a desert. Loads of potting mix was added to the holes dug up for the fruit trees.
Dwarf peach trees. These were potted.
Meika and Jason planting a couple of apricot trees. The ground is this section is incredibly rocky. Hopefully these trees still grow OK.
Cross-pollinating plum trees
A peach tree in the foreground and cross-pollinating nectarines in the background.
