Gardening near apple trees?

[sg784]

Can you grow an organic vegetable garden near apple trees? My neighbor just told me Im out of luck because my property used to be an orchard and the soil is no good. There are 5 existing apple trees and lots of space between them that i was hoping to use as my garden.

Is this really not possible? Why? Google offers me nothing....

[MeepyCat]

I don't know why formerly being an orchard would make your soil no good, but even if it did, I think you could still have a vegetable garden if you did a square foot/raised bed kind of thing. (Which I would do anyway - easier weeding.)

[Alyantavid]

My garden has 2 pear trees actually in it and is bordered on one side by grapevines and a plum tree.

I've never had any problems.

[beanma]

If you want to have an organic garden maybe your neighbor is referring to the amount of pesticides they previously used? How old is the orchard? I know in the early-mid part of the last century lead was also sometimes used in apple orchards. I'm not sure how, but there is an old orchard in the mountains here that is part of a state park and has a sign about it. Apples, especially, in the east can be subject to a lot of fungal diseases and other pests so they often are heavily sprayed. I think on the west coast the diseases and pest issues aren't as bad so you can get those pretty organic apples from Washington. Hard to find them organic locally in NC, where I am.

[mamaofthree]

if he was talking about the soil being no good, it would take time, but you could totally enrich it and make it fabulous.

h

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I would start by getting your soil tested.

[sg784]

My house is 220 years old and the apple trees are between 4 and 6 feet around.. Im not sure how circumference of an apple tree corresponds with age though...

[MeepyCat]

It's possible, especially with trees that big (and wow, they must be gorgeous), that the spread of the root systems will make it very difficult to dig a garden. You could hack through the roots, but my experience with the roots of quite a small apple tree is that the roots can be very thick, and quite stubborn. I would be hesitant to take a mattock to the roots of the trees you describe in order to plant tomatoes.

I think I'm going to repeat my recommendation for raised vegetable beds. Really, the weeding will be so much easier, and you'll have to hammer some boxes together, but you won't have to dig at all.

[sg784]

Originally Posted by MeepyCat

It's possible, especially with trees that big (and wow, they must be gorgeous), that the spread of the root systems will make it very difficult to dig a garden. You could hack through the roots, but my experience with the roots of quite a small apple tree is that the roots can be very thick, and quite stubborn. I would be hesitant to take a mattock to the roots of the trees you describe in order to plant tomatoes.

I think I'm going to repeat my recommendation for raised vegetable beds. Really, the weeding will be so much easier, and you'll have to hammer some boxes together, but you won't have to dig at all.

This probably sounds really really stupid but If I do raised beds where will I get the soil to put in them? I was just going to till the ground......can you tell Im a beginner? lol

[MeepyCat]

I'm not that experienced a gardener either. I have a small, urban backyard. I have, however, killed many a garden tool on the root systems of oak and maple trees - tilling the soil isn't always a possibility. If you go out there with a garden hose and a shovel, about thirty minutes of effort should tell you what you're up against.

You can get garden soil by the cubic foot at Home Depot, Lowe's, or any garden store. You probably don't want to go for pure soil in a raised bed, you want a mix of topsoil, peat moss (which holds water) and compost. (All of these are commercially available.)

[TheGirls]

You can get your soil from somewhere else in your yard, or you can make some compost from your waste, or you can buy some soil/soil components... Most likely a combination of these. Garden centers often have compost and soil that they will sell to you by the truckload, and sometimes deliver too, if you don't have access to a pickup.

Square foot gardening often uses a combo of peat moss, vermiculite and compost. I do square foot garden with compost (homemade), perlite (purchased) and soil from the ground, but I have very good native soil.

If there's nowhere you can dig, but lots of sunlight, raised beds would be a great solution! I'd start by finding some good sources of compost.

[Owen'nZoe]

Depending on how close to the existing trees you are planning your garden, I would urge caution with the raised bed idea. Creating a raised bed within a tree's drip line is likely to smoother the trees roots in that area. The stress could cause you to lose trees - probably not immediately, but over the coming several years. As much as I love my veggie garden, I wouldn't want to risk the trees for it.

If the are you have in mind is well outside of the drip line, then I think the raised bed idea is a great one.

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by sg784

This probably sounds really really stupid but If I do raised beds where will I get the soil to put in them? I was just going to till the ground......can you tell I'm a beginner? lol

From a groovy landscaping company that will come and drop off a yard or four of dirt with their little dump truck or something so you don't have to shovel it all out of your own truck/vehicle and wheel it into the backyard wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow (now hubby wishes he'd listened to me and made our backyard gates 6 feet wide instead of four feet wide - he's footed in an awful lot of dirt over the years). Bonus is that most companies like that will also have compost and/or aged manure, and they typically screen out rocks and such. From a gal who's yard grows rocks, screened stuff rocks my world and plant roots really like it since they don't have to work as hard to speak.

And yeah, my immediate thought was tree roots. Seriously, it's hard to till with tree roots around. Besides, if you plant too close to big, mature trees, they'll suck up more of the nutrients from your soil leaving less for your cucumbers or tomatoes or whatever.