We had plum trees, apple trees, pear and peach trees, apricots, nectarines and quince. There was even a loquat tree over one of Dad's chook sheds - this was usually used for climbing in.
Needless to say his backyard was quite large for the suburbs.
My backyard is about 17-20m wide and around 8-10m deep - enough I suppose for fruit trees. We have 2 sheds at one end, a small wood shed near them, a Lilac and a Birch tree next to the wood shed, a small aviary at the other end of the yard, a clothesline in the middle and another Birch and a large Plum tree next to the clothesline. We also store 2 trailers and have 3 dogs that go in and out of this area.
The Birch next to the Plum died over winter - not too sure why. I think maybe that the Plum strangled it or took too much of the water the Birch needed - but who really knows. So over winter it will be coming out.
Now the Plum tree is really out of hand. It is too large to manage and we don't actually eat the fruit from it - it's a type of Green Gage so the fruit is small. This season the cockatoos had a ball cracking all the fruit open and then the seeds to get to the kernels. They did this when the fruit was still green - what was left was not enough to bother with. So as far I am concerned this tree is also to go. I will miss the shade it provides though - even if it's not on the house.
Hubby has graciously said that once they are chopped down he will square off the bed they are in and I can do what I like with it. So this means I can put in other fruit trees - dwarf varieties. I just have to decide which ones. I am thinking apples and maybe a nectarine. If I could find a skinny growing type I wouldn't mind putting another one in next to the red rose and something else along the back fence between the sheds and the wood shed.
Something like this....
I am also thinking of pulling out some of the flowering shrubs along the driveway and putting in berries instead. Blueberries and raspberries would be nice. I could train them to grow sideways along the fence.
What fruits do you have in your backyard?
