Backyard Garden: Urban Orchard
This orchard demonstrates fruit tree growing techniques for homeowners, with a primary focus on space saving plantings. The fruits grown in this orchard include apples, asian pears, and cherries.
Points of Interest:
Asian Pears:
Three varieties of pears have been grafted on one tree. The tree is a Raintree nursery product using Yongi, Chojuro, Shinseiki varieties of pears. The tree is trained along supporting wires taking on an interesting shape in two dimensions.
Shinseiki Pear: This particular variety is also known as the "apple pear" because of its shape and color. The Shinseiki is native to Japan and is also one of the country's most popular types of pears. The flavor is mildly sweet. Shinseiki Asian Pears have a crisp, white flesh.
Chojuro: This pear is touted for its butterscotch flavor! Originating from Japan in late 1895, Chojuro Asian pear trees (Pyrus pyrifolia ‘Chojuro’) are a popular cultivar with russetted orange-brown skin and crisp, juicy white flesh at about 3 inches. The fruit is known for its lengthy storage life too, about 5 months refrigerated.
Yongi: The flesh of this large apple shaped fruit is perfumy, juicy, and refreshing. The skin is a beautiful caramel color. Yongi is best peeled to enjoy the crisp, sweet flesh. The tree is productive and an excellent backyard grower’s choice.
Apples:
There are five varieties of tall trellis apples planted in this orchard.
Freedom Nic 29: Harvest late September
They are large, round and bright red with a creamy flesh and ripen between late September/early October. The flesh is firm, crisp, and juicy, with a sweet, sprightly flavor. This is a multi-use apple; it is good for fresh eating, baking, and sauce, and it will store well for up to three months. Freedom was developed at the breeding station in Geneva, NY and released in 1983.
Pristine G.11: Harvest mid-late July
Pristine apples have a beautiful golden yellow color that includes a pink blush. With a crisp texture and a sweet-tart flavor, Pristine apples make for a tasty and healthy treat. Beyond being a great eating apple, their high sugar content makes them excellent for cooking and baking.
Enterprise Nic.29: Harvest early October
Enterprise is a modern bred, late-ripening and attractive, red cultivar of domesticated apple with excellent fruit quality combined with disease resistance to scab, cedar apple rust, fire blight and some resistance to powdery mildew. The fruit is large and attractive and retains excellent fresh quality for up to six months at 1°C. Its moderate acidity at time of harvest mellows in storage, and it is best after one month of storage.
Crimson Crisp G.41: Harvest early September
A small to medium yellow apple splashed with red that is extremely crisp with a rich spicy flavor; ideal for home landscapes, needs well-drained soil and full sun; eating apples are high maintenance, and need a second pollinator.
Liberty Nic. 29: Harvest in September
The Liberty apple has crunchy white flesh with a mildly tart flavor. It is part of the “McIntosh style” apple group, tart and juicy.Liberty apples are medium-sized with a dark red striations over a sometimes barely visible yellow background. The skin is speckled with small yellow lenticels, contributing to the overall flavor of the apple. Its yellow-toned flesh is crisp and juicy with a fine-grain texture. The Liberty apple is sweet like a McIntosh, yet more tart and has a flavor profile very much its own, including some hints of citrus and melon.
More about Apples:
- Each tree occupies a 3-foot circle and is 8-10 feet tall.
- You can harvest apples in 2-3 years compared to 5 plus years in traditional planting. There is minimal pruning and spraying required and harvesting is easier, you are much closer to ground.
- The trees can act as a fence-like border. It is not as complicated as espalier but it can act as a “fruiting wall”.
Cherries:
There are three varieties planted in this orchard; Blackgold Sweet, Jubileum Sweet-Tart, and Montmorency Pie Cherry
- BlackGold Sweet- Table Cherry
- Deep red purple skin and golden flesh.
- Grafted to a Krymsk 5 rootstock 15-18 foot tree
- Mid- June harvest
- Jubileum - Sweet-Tart Cherry
- Deep red/ purple skin and flesh.
- Grafted to a Mahaleb rootstock 15-18 ft tree.
- Early June harvest. Become sweeter with time.
- Montmorency — Pie cherry
- Dwarf Supreme from Stark Brothers
- June harvest - bright red berry -tangy taste.
Tips:
Asian Pear:
- Grow in full sun on a fence or wall
- Pruning is necessary a minimum of three times a year
- Pollination is easy because three varieties are present
Tall Trellised Apples:
- Apples must be a variety that is bred for this method.
- Features of these varieties include; early fruiting, disease resistant and grown on special root stock.
- The weight of apples must be supported by a substantial wire, high tensile trellis, which creates a substantial expense when starting this type of orchard.
Cherries:
- Requires full sun and good drainage (dry “feet”)
Garden Address
35230 W 135th St
Olathe, KS 66061
Master Gardeners are available to answer questions and provide tours while they work the gardens Wednesday mornings, March to October. To schedule a visit on another day (M-F), please contact us at bygjocoemg@gmail.com
Have questions? The Garden Hotline is staffed by trained EMG volunteers and Extension staff who will assist you with questions.
Phone: (913) 715-7050
Email: garden.help@jocogov.org