09/11/2025
Destination Orchard // Slopes are often on the agenda when living in coastal country. Fruit trees and native plants are a great combination to activate the space - providing seasonal food and beneficial habitat year round. Fall/winter is the perfect time to start planning and planting.
While they provide excellent opportunities they also have some limitations. Here are some keys to success that we have adopted over the years:
🥾Access: You’ll likely need steps to get you up, or, down there! We often use simple, chunky lumber beams for the easiest and cost effective option. It’s nice to create a curved path with landings to make the journey more dynamic and inviting to traverse - even if the path is longer (no one feels excited about walking up steep steps).
⛷️Slope: The steeper the slope the more infrastructure you need. With planting trees on anything above a grade of 3:1 slope you will need to create a berm on the downslope side, to hold the soil in place - and ensure when irrigating, the water can infiltrate slower - preventing run-off.
☀️ Sun: You need sun! Make sure to check the suns arc through the year - especially spring to fall equinox. You’ll need a solid consistent 8hrs for optimizing the harvests.
🍎 Varieties: Clearly the end goal/fun part. There are often so many options. Just check your climate zone and find trees that work in your region.
🪱 Soil: Hillsides have notoriously poorer, thin soils. Remember to add new planting mix WITH the native soil back into the hole. Depending on your soil type, 50-50 is a nice ratio.
🦦Seating: As with all of the spaces we create, particularly where food growing is concerned, make it inviting to hang out there more is key. Seating immediately creates the “destination”. I love my tree swing, but a few Adirondack chairs and a side table will also do the trick.
🪺Storage: Anything with “Destination” in the title, means make life easier for yourself! Less trips back and forth to the house. A little storage shed or large box is a nice idea to keep fertilizers and tools dry for those impromptu feeding, harvesting or pruning days.
