TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR OWN BACKYARD ORCHARD

Research is crucial. Ramirez is a fan of experimentation, but he also believes in education. He spends a lot of time listening to gardening videos on YouTube, talking with experts at local nurseries or reading information on specialty websites such as Dave Wilson Nursery, Kuffel Creek Nursery and California Rare Fruit Growers.

Plant when it’s cool, preferably in the winter or early spring, to give trees a chance to get established before the weather turns hot.

Add a thick layer of mulch, such as five to six inches of leaves or wood chips to help keep moisture in the soil. Don’t get rid of the leaves or prunings from your trees. Use them for mulch, but place them several inches away from tree trunks to discourage disease and insect infestations.

Improve your soil. Ramirez believes in growing organically and using organic amendments such as compost and worm castings to encourage the growth of beneficial microbes and mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, which help trees and other plants better absorb nutrients and water. To that end, he recommends buying good quality organic compost, such as Bu’s Blend by Malibu Compost, or making your own.

Add rock dust or azomite minerals to your soil to improve water retention as well. “I get a 50-pound bag of rock dust and just broadcast it around the orchard or add a handful around the circumference of the trees,” he said.

Use compost tea to feed your trees while watering. Ramirez has had good luck with a dried compost tea from Boogie Brew, a Sonoma County company that has been helpful in answering his questions as well.

Filter your irrigation water to remove chlorine and other chemicals that can destroy the beneficial microbes you want to encourage in your soil. Ramirez uses a Boogie Blue Filter Plus that just screws onto his hose, which also is made by Boogie Brew.

Be open to experimentation. If you’re interested in a fruit that normally grows in other locations, read all you can about it, consult with the nurseries that grow those trees and then give it a try, Ramirez said.

Don’t give up. Failure is a given in gardening, Ramirez said. Learn from your mistakes and keep trying.