Hi all. I have zero experience with fruit trees.
I have this vacant backyard as you can see below, which I hope to turn into a fruit orchard.
What I need help with is to plan the orchard, in terms of the species of trees to plant, their ideal location, and number. I wish to have the maximum variety of fruits possible ripening more or less consecutively. I can spend at least five hours/week tending to the orchard.

Fruit from most desired to least desired:

• Persimmon, fig, pomegranate, almond, hazelnut
• strawberry, raspberries, grapes (for both grapes and leaves), pear, Italian plum, lemon
• walnut, peach, apple

I know This may be asking for too much but it would be most helpful for me if someone could match the A-G spots in the figure below to the above trees. That is, please tell me what is the best candidate tree to be planted in each of the 7 spots shown in the figure.

Apart from that, some specific questions:

1. how to best use the narrow rectangle by the right-side fence where the sun sets? Can I grow berries there? sunflowers? grapes?
2. Do I have to get dwarf trees even if I can prune to keep the tree's size manageable?
3. Where would you set up trellises for grapes and sunflowers? The N, NE, SE fences or?
4. Can I grow any of the above-listed fruit in the sunlight-less space behind the garage?
5. Is it worth having a professional aggressively prune the large tree to increase sunlight? Currently, the yard gets about 4-5 hrs of direct sunlight.

THANK YOU


show 4 pm sunlight

 

I didn't see it listed but knowing your location is fairly important.

 

What is "the very large tree"? Almost anywhere you dig in your yard is going to hit its roots. If it's an oak, depending on the variety, I'd be especially cautious about messing with its roots.

 

Sorry, the location is Louisville, KY (Zone 6)

Pilot Dane, I certainly do not want to mess with that big tree so your point is well taken. I guess I will have to plant smaller trees that allow me to dig smaller holes then? Maybe 1 cubic foot holes? Could that alleviate the issue?

 

Small trees get bigger so simply starting with smaller trees isn't the answer. It does help initially that you won't have to cut as many roots from the big tree but you're still planting a bunch of new trees in the root zone of the big tree. They will all be fighting for the same resources.

The core issue is you don't have a large enough space for everything you want to plant. 10' separation is OK for dwarf varieties so they can fit. Just don't expect maximum yield since they will only get sun for less than half the day and they are competing for water and nutrients with the other established trees.

Pay attention to the temperature tolerance of each thing you are considering. Pick trees appropriate for your climate. Say you want to grow a tree that is good for zones 6-10. Keep in mind that in zone 6 you are at the edge of it's zone and a freak winter may kill the tree. You mentioned wanting to grow pomegranate which is a zone 7-10 plant so it would be best grown in a container so you can bring it inside during the colder months. But if you pick a plant that can grow in zones 4-8 you would be right in that tree's sweet spot.

Also consider the pollination needs of your trees. Some varieties can self pollinate but many need at least two of the species and many do better when mixed with a different variety of the same type. For example, I have three hazelnut varieties. All three cross pollinate each other and the different pollinators increases production from them all. And, the different varieties ripen at different times which is great for maintaining production through a crazy weather year.