In the Spring of 2021 I had purchased three apple trees (1 McIntosh, 1 State Fair, and 1 Cortland), and two hazelnut bushes/trees to plant on our property. This would be the first trees, and shrubs that I would plant on our new property, and the beginnings of my forest garden! 😀
Up until then I had only dreamed of having a property of this size (about 10 acres in total) to create a forest garden on. Over the years I had become pretty good at planning, and designing garden areas, but on a much smaller (more micro) scale. Nothing this big! So I was, and have been a little overwhelmed with the whole planning, and design process.
Planning, and Design
The first year that we lived here I spent a lot of time outdoors getting to know the land. I would observe the amount of sunlight different areas would get throughout the seasons. I got to know some of the many different species of native plants already growing on our property (mainly in our woods). When walking around I would visualize what would look good, and grow well where. I read some good books, countless blog posts, and watched just about every YouTube video available on the subject of creating a forest garden. I was excited, and ready to start planting some trees! 🙂
As you can see from the image above that I decided to loosely stagger the trees throughout open grassy areas in our back yard. I’m not a big fan of straight lines, and since there are no straight lines in nature I decided to go with more of a natural jungle look. At least in our back yard I did. 🙂 The front yard has yet to be planned out.
Tree Placement
The first thing I did was to carefully place the trees far enough apart from each other, but close enough to ensure good pollination. The apple trees are semi-dwarf apple trees. They will grow to be about 12 to 15 feet tall, and wide. You should always consider how big plants will grow to when deciding where to plant them. This is important! Especially if you’re planning on adding more plants to the area at a later date.
Hazelnut can be grown as large bushes if planted far enough apart, hedges if planted closer together, or trees if pruned from a young age on. I decided to grow mine as two large separate bushes for landscape appearance, and to get maximum hazelnut harvests when fully grown. The ones pictured in the image above are American Hazelnut. They will grow to be about 15 to 18 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide.
Digging Holes
Once I had the trees placed where I felt they would look good, and do their best it was time to start digging! 🙂
When transplanting perennials (trees, shrubs, etc… ) from pots into the ground you should always plant them in a hole that is about 1/3 larger (no bigger) than the diameter of the pot that it came in, and up to the soil line in the pot deep.
So to achieve this I first placed my shovel about 6 inches out from the outside of the pot. Then I cut a big circle through the sod all the way around the pot.
After that I moved the potted tree away from the dig area, removed the sod, and started to dig out the hole.
As I dug down I would periodically place my potted tree in the hole to check on the depth, and diameter until it looked about right to me.
Planting Trees
After all the holes were dug it was time to start planting my trees.
This is where the 5 bags of leaf compost comes in. When transplanting perennials, it is important to properly amended the soil to add nutrients for a healthy growing environment.
To do this I carefully measured out a 50/50 mixture of soil, and leaf compost.
For each of my trees this worked out to be one five gallon bucket of each since their pots were all the same size.
I then poured it all into a garden trailer for mixing. I could have used a tarp for this, but the trailer just made things a lot easier.
After that I mixed it all together with a shovel.
Then I removed the tree from it’s pot, placed it in it’s hole, and filled it in.
Once my tree was planted I spread a thin layer of leaf compost around the trees base.
I used the same process to plant all my trees.
Tree Care
It’s important to use a good root stimulator at the time of transplant, and again in one month. Root stimulator stimulates early growth development, and also reduces transplant shock. The brand I used called for 3 tablespoons per 1 gallon of water. So I mixed it all up, and poured 1 gallon around the base of each tree. I repeated the same process one month later.
After I applied the root stimulator I gave each tree a good soaking with water. Then if we didn’t get any rain for a while, I would water it once a week, and soak it again.
If it does rain it’s always a good idea to check the soil before watering. You can do this by going down about 4 to 5 inches into the soil with your fingers to see if it’s dry before you water it because over watering can constrict the roots.
The Fruits of My Labor
By early last Spring all of the trees I planted the year before were established, growing, and blossoming! 😀
Then the apple blossoms turned into apples.
As Summer went on the apples ripened.
All of my apple trees ended up producing apples last year. My State Fair apple tree ended up producing the most.
My hazelnut bushes/trees blossomed in early Spring, but did not produce any nuts. I think they were just to young yet. Maybe this year they will?
I ended up having quite a few good apple harvests for such young trees.
Apples are such tasty treats. Especially when picked fresh right off the tree. I can’t wait to see what this year brings! 😀
If you are thinking of planting any fruit, and/or nut trees feel free to use this as a guide of sorts. This method worked quite well for me.
Now what to plant this year? Maybe some peach trees? I love peaches!
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Thank you for reading, and happy gardening!
Very interesting John & a cool presentation!