An orchard is probably one of the best investments you can ever make. If you don't have $40 a pop for trees, or don't have your dream home yet. That is ok. As your family goes through store bought fruit, start planting the seeds. All it takes to get these little guys started is 3-4 bags of soil, and a few dozen planting bags like the ones below. These bags are the exact ones I got, same seller, and they are doing great. They were ready to go when they got here. If the trees do not produce good fruit, you have some wood for other uses. I plan on planting EVERY single fruit seed and pit that comes into this house over the next year or two is getting planted. These bags worked so well for me, I am going to grab a bunch of 5 gallon bags, and 50 more 1 gallon bags to grow out our fruit trees in. I expect our total cost to be under $80 for the fruit trees (not counting water!).
So for the cost of 2 fruit trees, you can have 100! If you take good care of them, and half of those survive and produce fruit, you can have all the fruit trees you need to get your orchard started. Wait until they fruit for the first time. If the fruit is terrible, or it never fruits, give it away or use it for any of the other ways wood can be used. On the other hand, if you have 10 apple trees that produce great fruit, I am sure you have a few neighbors who will take it off your hands for a couple bucks. So starting an orchard this way may take a little longer, but it will save you tons of money, and you can even make a small profit in the end!
Right now though, we are all about savings. An orchard is a savings as WELL as a great investment for your future. This is an investment that can be as big or as small as you want to make it.
1. Sell the fruits.
2. Use the land under and around the trees for herbs, and sell the herbs. This works especially well when your trees are not producing.
3. Learn to root trees from branches and sell the little trees. These also make great gifts.
Do you have any other ways you make money off of your orchard?
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