Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Planting fruit trees is important work, even though it may just feel like a hobby to you.
In winter we sell fruit trees from the farm through our other business Carr’s Organic Fruit Tree Nursery. The days are full of conversations about people’s plans for their gardens, and their hopes and dreams for their fruit trees.
Setting people up for success when planting new fruit trees
We spent lots of time explaining different tree training systems and giving mini-pruning lessons.
We talk about the merits of different fruit varieties and provide impromptu planting demos.
When people feel ready and armed with all the right info, we help them load up their trees and wave them off as they go home to get planting.
It’s a little like sending new parents home with their babies.
We’re simultaneously delighted to see them start their journey together and slightly nervous about how they’ll manage, particularly if they’re first-time parents. We imagine midwives must feel the same when they send new families home from hospital.
Of course, trees and babies are completely different cases. Babies are the most precious thing in the world and must be kept alive at all costs.
It doesn’t really matter if a tree dies from neglect or mistreatment. It’s just a few bucks down the drain and you start again, right?
Strictly speaking of course that’s true, but actually, there’s a little more at stake.
You see, we know something more…we know what it feels like to nurture a fruit tree all the way through to maturity and harvest, and it’s almost indescribably satisfying.
The fruit tree planting journey
It starts with planting it out in the right spot in the garden and giving it the first (terrifying) pruning.
Then you’re responsible for protecting it from pests that might damage it and making sure it has healthy soil and enough water.
You nervously watch it grow and then bloom. You become awed by the miracle of pollination and seeing fading flowers falling off to reveal tiny fruit.
You protect the fruit from pests and diseases, and then … finally … harvest the most delicious fruit you’ve ever tasted in your life because you grew it yourself.
What happens after you plant your trees?
Over the years the trees grow. With them, your skill level grows too (possibly with a little help. You become more confident that you can protect your precious crop against all the hazards and dangers that threaten it.
This is important work. You’re providing nutritious organic food for your family for the whole year, not just summer.
The family budget will almost certainly be better off.
And you’re giving your kids irreplaceable memories of picking fruit straight from the tree. You need to get results every year, not just the years you’re “lucky”.
And when it works and you bring in the harvest, you feel on top of the world!
Becoming a backyard farmer
You’ve joined the ranks of one of the most important groups in society—the food providers. Those salt-of-the earth types who have the seemingly magical ability to coax delicious food from a little dirt, sunshine, and hard work. You’re a farmer.
We know all this because this has been our journey over the last 20+ years.
Yes, as with raising children, there’s pain along the way as you make mistakes and worry that things may wrong.
But we also know the joy that lies ahead for you, and while admittedly it’s nowhere near as special as bringing a whole new human into the world, at least your fruit trees are not going to give you nearly as many sleepless nights!
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Hi Katie,
I enjoyed reading your loving reflection on fruit tree rearing. Have you ever done a calculation of how much time on average you give to tending a fruit tree? I’m not curious about commercial growers’ time so much as that of those who are feeding their families.
Cheers
Hi Kate, thanks for your kind comments. No, we’ve never done that calculation, but it would be an interesting thing to know. Apart from a couple of jobs that take a bit longer (like thinning, pruning or picking – and the time depends on the size of the tree, amongst other things) then an average of just a few minutes a week is usually ample.