Martha's Orchard Has 200 Fruit Trees—and She Just Planted Even More

From preparing her vegetable garden to pruning and mulching, spring is one of the busiest times of year on Martha's farm. Recently, she and her team spent the day planting bare-root fruit trees in her orchard, including cherry, apple, pear, and apricot trees.

Martha's orchard was first planted in 2017 and includes more than 200 fruit trees. While her trees are pruned and fed regularly, even with excellent maintenance, sometimes trees need to be replaced due to disease or damage, she said in a recent blog post, adding that she also likes to add trees when she can.

This week, Martha's order of bare-root fruit trees arrived from Trees of Antiquity in Paso Robles, California. She chose many unique varieties, such as English Morello Cherry, Purple Guigne Cherry, Rio Oso Gem Peach, Polly White Peach, Mountain Roast Apple, Christmas Pink Apple, Surprise Apple, and others. "I’m looking forward to seeing the fruits develop and tasting each and every one," she writes.

Once the trees arrived, they were placed in buckets of water to soak. "Soaking the roots for at least four to 12 hours ensures they are fully hydrated and ready to absorb water and nutrients once planted," Martha says. They were also given a solution specifically for transplants to provide the nutrients needed to develop strong roots.

While the trees soaked, holes twice the width of the roots were dug in the orchard. Each hole was amended with nutrient-rich composted soil and fertilizer. The soil and fertilizer were mixed together and then piled into a mound a few inches high at the bottom of the hole. "This will give some support to the root system," Martha writes.

Fruiting scion wood is often grafted onto resilient rootstocks, Martha says. The graft point looks like a knuckle at the bottom of the trunk. When planting, the graft point must be a few inches above the soil, which preserves the rootstock and allows for better growth and productivity.

Martha's head gardener, Ryan McCallister, carefully places each tree into its designated hole, making sure it's centered on the mound. He spreads the roots out then backfills the hole with soil while holding the tree upright with one hand. The soil is then compacted around the plant to ensure good contact around the roots.