Fruit Trees from Fedco

May 18, 2017

My giant tree planting project at the farm continues with more than a hundred wonderful fruit trees.

This season, we’ve potted and planted thousands of trees - deciduous, evergreen, weeping, trees that flower, and trees with bold, colorful foliage. This year, I also decided to create a new orchard - one filled with a variety of apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, pear and quince trees. I ordered one collection of bare-root cuttings from Fedco, a cooperative-run company located in Clinton, Maine, that specializes in seeds, tubers, trees, and bulbs. Once they arrived, my outdoor grounds crew went to work - potting them up in individual containers, where they will remain until they’re transplanted into the ground.

Fresh fruit is one of nature's most delicious products - I can’t wait to share images of my new orchard with you. Here are some of the trees we'll be planting - enjoy.

: Under a small pergola next to my main greenhouse, I have a collection of about 100 young fruit trees waiting to be planted.

: These trees came from Fedco, a Clinton, Maine growing company that stores and ships seedlings out of three giant warehouses. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: Over the winter, Fedco’s bare-root cuttings are stored under a generous layer of sawdust before they are shipped. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: Once orders are made, the seedlings are carefully packed to keep in the moisture during shipping. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: Although Fedco does not have a retail shop, it does host a large annual sale at its warehouses, where visitors can purchase and pick up various specimens. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: Fedco grows a large variety of fruit trees. This is a sampling of the kinds of apple trees they provide. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: And here are some of Fedco’s pear varieties. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: Healthy bare-root trees get off to a more vigorous start because their abundant, fibrous roots have already had a chance to develop unrestricted. When I order these cuttings, I have them potted up right way. I feel they do so much better if we nurture them in containers before transplanting into the ground.

: In the Equipment Barn “turned temporary potting shed”, Wilmer makes sure the pot is the right size for the tree. It should be substantial enough to support a tree, but small enough to move easily. These five-gallon pots will definitely accommodate these fruit trees.

: This tree cutting is placed at the same level it was grown by the nursery – where the roots start and the top shoots begin. The soil is then gently filled in around the roots, but not packed too tightly.

: If the tree is in good condition, it should sprout leaves within several weeks.

: Wambui, our intern from the School of Professional Horticulture at The New York Botanical Garden, holds the seedling in place as Wilmer fills the container.

: I am very proud of the nutrient-rich soil we have at the farm. We make composted manure for all our plantings.

: As each seedling is planted, the soil is tamped down around the roots in order to remove any air pockets.

: Wilmer and Wambui formed a productive assembly line to get the task done – here, they’ve already potted a good number of trees.

: Once they’re potted, they’re taken to the pergola, where they can be maintained and watered regularly.

: In all, I got a variety of apple trees, pear trees, plum trees, sweet and sour cherry trees, apricot trees, peach trees and quince trees. I also purchased several European varieties as well as hybrids. I can’t wait until they bear their first fruits.

: Some of the trees include the ‘Green Gage’ European plum – often considered the best of all dessert plums. They are small, round semi-freestone yellowish-green fruits, sometimes mottled with red and has tender juicy flesh and a rich flavor.

: ‘Toka’ hybrid plums are rosy-red fruits, up to one-and-a-half inches in diameter, mottled with darker purplish-red and covered with a faint bloom. The fruits are consistently sweet, distinctive, meaty and flavorful.

: The ‘Stanley’ European plum is among the most popular of European prune plums in America. It is excellent for cooking, eating, canning and drying. The fruit is medium-to-large sized with dark blue skin and juicy fine-grained sweet flesh.

: Here is a ‘Stanley’ European plum. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: ‘Mount Royal’ plums are often considered the sweetest of the European plums. The flesh is greenish-yellow, juicy and firm. They’re great for eating fresh, dried, frozen, canned and in preserves.

: ‘Garnet Beauty’ peaches are medium-to-large yellow-fleshed semi-clingstone fruits with excellent flavor.

: ‘Polly’ peaches are also medium-sized with high-quality white-flesh. These fruits have whitish skin with a reddish blush. It’s considered the hardiest of the white-fleshed peaches.

: ‘Hosui’ Asian pears are large, long-stemmed fruits with medium-thick skin covered with glowing yellow-orange-golden brown russet and numerous light-russet dots. The sweet rich-flavored white to off-white flesh is considered by some to be the best-flavored of all Asian pears.

: These white blooms have already emerged on the ‘Hosui’ Asian pear trees – so pretty.

: And, here is what the ‘Hosui’ Asian pear looks like. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: ‘Brookcot’ apricots are hardy little fruits with excellent flavor. These bloom later in the season, which may be advantageous since many apricots bloom so early.

: ‘North Star’ pie cherries can be eaten fresh when ripe. They are large roundish heart-shaped fruits with a small stone.

: The all-purpose aromatic ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ apples are among the most famous of all apples. Not only one of the best eating apples, but also one of the most sought-after in modern apple breeding and growing apples.

: This is a ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ apple. (Courtesy of Fedco Trees)

: I also got a few varieties of quince including ‘Aromatnaya’, and ‘Orange’. The fruit of the quince tree will ripen to perfection when grown in a sunny position. They are perfect for turning into jellies and jams. I already have a small grove of quince trees that thrive here at the farm.