Years ago we planted a carob tree in the front yard, to provide carob for us to make our own chocolate substitute because my younger daughter could not eat chocolate at the time (she has since grown out of that particular food allergy). So we bought the tree, it was a bit over a metre tall when we planted it. Unfortunately I didn’t know much about carob trees; they grow slowly and my daughter had moved out before it finally flowered after fifteen years. The flowers didn’t look right though and after some research I found out something else about carob trees – they are dioecious – there are male and female trees, and we had a male. No carob pods for us! It did keep us warm the next winter though and in its place I put in the fruit tree circle.
To replace the carob tree I wanted a denser planting of productive trees and plants so that the area would provide more useful products that the carob would have using a combination of dwarf trees and pruning. I had cut the carob tree down as close to the ground as I could but there was still some stump sitting up and I decided to make that the exact centre of the circle. To do this I got some rope and looped it loosely around the stump, at the other end (about 1.5 metres away) I tied a stake. Then using the rope and stake dragged around the stump I scratched a circle in the lawn 3 metres in diameter which became the outer limit of my fruit tree circle.
With the circle in place I then skimmed off the grass by shallow scraping with a mattock, for later composting and put down a layer of weed mat over the whole area. To set the boundary I got some garden edging 150mm deep dug down 50mm into the ground to give it stability. I needed something reasonably fertile to form the bed so I got in some organic garden mix (basically compost) and filled in the whole of the circle to the depth of the edging, but hilled up a bit in the middle.
To give the circle a bit of interest (and to completely cover the stump) I marked out an inner circle a metre in diameter and then put in some more garden edging around the edge to give the centre extra height. This circle I also filled up with organic garden mix, fully covering the stump. Over the whole lot I then put a layer of wood chips as mulch. The wood chips are a long term mulch that take years to break down but they also have another advantage in that they attract beneficial fungi that work well with the trees.
My term “Fruit Tree circle” is a bit of a misnomer, it is actually two circles and the trees are useful but they are not all fruit trees. The outer circle sports two lime trees (Tahitian and kaffir) two apples (pink lady and gala – it is important to select varieties that cross pollinate!) both dwarves, a curry leaf tree, a macadamia nut tree and a dwarf lemon tree. The inner circle is growing 3 red current bushes.
To plant the trees I had to clear away the mulch and organic mix, cut through the weed mat, then dig down into the ground to get deep enough for the trees to be happy. So far the holes in the weed mat haven’t been a problem and the trees are growing well. Once the trees were planted the organic mix and mulch went back over the top and I watered them in to settle the soil and organic mix around the roots. Easy!
The three red currant bushes went in next but because there was deeper soil build up there was no need to disturb the weed matting. The red currants are inside the outer ring of trees to provide some measure of protection from what can be fairly ferocious Western Sydney summers. My experience of berry fruits has not been good so far; they look OK after planting but look a bit sick by the middles of summer. This trick seems to work because it has been three years and they are still alive and thriving.
At the centre of the circle, right over where the carob stump is slowly rotting away, we have a very high class chook statue, but the trees have grown up so much it is not easy to see any more. Over the last three years the trees and bushes have spread out and created a nice shady area that the cats love to go in under and lie on. Personally, I would have thought the wood chip mulch would have been too uncomfortable but they seem happy enough.
We are yet to get macadamias ( it may take a while) and it looks like we may get some apples this year, but it is great to be able to pick lemons and limes from the front yard as well as being able to pick curry and kaffir lime leaves for our curries whenever we want. We have also been able to share the leaves with family and friends. The only work required has been a once-a-year prune for the apples and occasional trimming up for the other trees to keep them open – and short!
