When I first bought my cottage, I dreamed about turning the large, empty, rectangular backyard into a thriving orchard. I imagined how it would be, visualizing a forest of fruit. At the time, the soil was very poor, and severely lacking in nutrients. It was dry and white, like sand on a beach. We live in a desert climate, and sometimes will experience years of drought. Being a young and optimistic first time home owner, that didn't stop me. I covered the backyard with several layers, starting with manure and straw. I topped it with dark roasted coffee grounds that I had picked up by the garbage bag full at Starbucks, and then leaves. I asked all of my neighbors for their fallen leaves. I would go over to their houses and rake them all up into a pile. I filled my green waste bins with them and wheeled them back to my home. I also collected wheel barrels full of manure from the people who had horses, goats, and chickens. I would compost it, and then spread it all out as mulch. After leaving those layers of organic matter throughout the backyard,, and letting the rain soak in and break everything down, my soil began to improve. Underneath the straw, the soil was now black. Red wiggler worms had also appeared, on their own. I planted wildflowers like California poppies and hollyhocks to attract pollinators. The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds appeared and floated through the flowers.
I bought several different types of fruit trees: Santa Rosa plums, pluots, nectarines, peaches, pomegranates, Pink Lady apples, Bing cherries, Hachiya persimmons, and a variety of citrus. Twenty years later, I have noticed a pattern. The citrus and pomegranate trees have consistently thrived. Many of the other trees I lost. They either couldn't survive the heat, they became brittle with decay and disease, or they were eaten and weakened by various bugs and pests.
I don't use any sprays of commercial fertilizers on my fruit trees. I give most of them a shovel full of homemade compost during the cold season. I also apply raked up laves around the base of the trees as mulch. Other than that, I just keep them watered and trimmed to under ten feet high. They love the hot sun, which we get plenty of, here in Southern California.
I have had my best luck buying standard sized fruit trees from Dave Wilson's Nursery. The dwarf varieties don't give me as much fruit. The standards produce like crazy, but I have to be sure keep them pruned. When deciding what to grow, I walked my dogs around the neighborhood and observed what fruit trees were growing well in other people's yards. I studied the older trees, mentally memorizing the ones that had lasted. Peaches and nectarines grow like weeds here. They are very dependable. My apricot tree is healthy and producing consistently, too.
Raccoons and rats have also been a challenge for me, living in the country. One year all of the pomegranates were hollowed out by rats in what seemed to be a single evening. Here today; gone tomorrow. It happened while I was asleep. We also have possums, who hang upside from the trees. They are so funny. Sometimes I pick my fruit a day or two before it's ripe, and set it out on the counter to absorb the sun. If I wait until it's perfectly ripe, often a group of rodents will eat every piece of fruit on the tree while I'm sleeping.
Growing your own fruit is very rewarding, but it has its challenges. I've had to learn to accept the outcome, and not get upset. It's depressing to see your fruit trees die, but usually something else will appear unexpectedly. I've got a volunteer watermelon plant that just came up after spreading compost under a very old Ponderosa lemon tree. It should do well. It's green and healthy. I'll feed it compost tea, keep it weeded, and see how things go. The life of a gardener is full of color, beauty, and surprises.
