Raintree Fruit Growing Blog

Planting apple trees can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience, offering your family delicious homegrown apples for years to come.

At Raintree Nursery, one of the most common questions we get from home gardeners is, "How far apart to plant apple trees?" The answer depends on several factors, including the type of apple tree and the conditions in your garden.

With apple tree planting, timing is everything. Knowing when to plant apple trees can make a significant difference in the health and productivity of your orchard.

The Pacific Northwest is famous for its multitude of native edible plants. Native plants can produce fruit for you and wildlife, and be beneficial in other ways. What grows native on your site may provide clues as to what will grow well there.

Structural pruning refers to a pruning approach that involves cutting back competing lateral branches to favor a strong leader. In this approach, a tree will have a strong leader and competing side (lateral) branches are kept narrower than half the diameter of the trunk. Co-dominant branches are not allowed to grow. This approach can be practiced on trees of all ages, but in this case one cut was made to improve the structure of an unpruned ,mature walnut tree.

A short post describes replacing a wooden cover for a snail bait trap in support of greenhouse management at Raintree Nursery.

Pollinating insects are crucial to a successful home orchard. This blog post highlights bumblebees as important pollinators in addition to honey bees. Other native pollinators besides bumblebees are mentioned. Future posts will explore some of them further...

I worked on the orchard irrigation system at Raintree some before summer started. Soon, spring rains were going to stop and summer's dry heat was coming. We needed to be ready to irrigate! While sparing the gory details, I wrote some about what I had been working on...

I describe using whip-and-tongue grafting on pawpaws in this post. I attempt a description of the grafting process, as well as indulge in sharing my interest in the overlooked pawpaw, one of North America's most interesting native fruits.