I've been thinking further about the design of the 'Barn Orchard'.
We would like Plums, Damsons, Blackcurrants, Redcurrants, Gooseberries, Raspberries, Mistletoe and a ground cover of Oats and soil-improving legumes. The area will be stock-fenced to keep the sheep and alpacas off it when the trees are small, and later to train the Raspberries against.
The ground will be well covered with large rocks to try to retain heat from the sun and also to provide inviting habitat for worms.
This year the focus will be on preparing it for planting - the soil is heavy clay, so I'll be trying to add lots of organic matter through heavy mulching, chicken scratching, green-manure growing and pig-ploughing. I may also try a bit of primitive drainage with the long, heavy bar that I use to make pilot holes for fence posts.
In the drawing below each square is 1m x 1m. The top of the page is North, and the prevailing wind here is from the West. The key to plants is:
1. Blackcurrant
2. Redcurrant
3. Plum Tree on St. Julien A rootstock (half-standard size tree).
4. Damson Tree on 'Pixy' rootstock (small tree).
5. Gooseberry
6. Raspberry
The North boundary is the wall of the hay barn, which in due course I'll paint a smart white. The other boundaries will be stock fence, and there will be a wheelbarrow-width gate on the Eastern side (I've learnt my lesson with the various chicken runs / enclosures etc. that I've made - "Always make the door wide enough for a wheelbarrow!"). I'm hoping that the rasperries could be climbing varieties on the barn side, and, another possibility that has just struck me is that we might be able to train Hops up the barn side too. Beer made from Oats and Hops? Sounds like it might be possible, if not particularly delicious!
