Anorchard is an intentional plantation oftrees orshrubs that is maintained forfood production. Orchards comprisefruit- ornut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of largegardens, where they serve anaesthetic as well as a productive purpose.^[1] A fruit garden is generally synonymous with an orchard, although it is set on a smaller, non-commercial scale and may emphasizeberry shrubs in preference tofruit trees. Mosttemperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular grid, with a grazed or mowngrass or baresoil base that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy.

Most modern commercial orchards are planted for a single variety of fruit. While the importance of introducingbiodiversity is recognized in forest plantations, introducing genetic diversity in orchard plantations by interspersing other trees might offer benefits. Genetic diversity in an orchard would provide resilience to pests and diseases, just as inforests.^[2]

Orchards are sometimes concentrated near bodies of water whereclimatic extremes aremoderated andblossom time is retarded untilfrost danger is past.

An orchard's layout is the technique of planting the crops in a proper system.There are different methods of planting and thus different layouts. Some of these layout types are:^{[citation needed]}

• Square method
• Rectangular method
• Quincunx method
• Triangular method
• Hexagonal method
• Contour orterrace method

For different varieties, these systems may vary to some extent.

The most extensive orchards in the United States are apple and orange orchards, although citrus orchards are more commonly calledgroves. The most extensive apple orchard area is in easternWashington state, with a lesser but significant apple orchard area in most ofUpstate New York. Extensive orange orchards are found inFlorida and southernCalifornia. In easternNorth America, many orchards are along the shores ofLake Michigan (such as theFruit Ridge Region),Lake Erie, andLake Ontario.^{[citation needed]}

InCanada, apple and other fruit orchards are widespread on theNiagara Peninsula, south of Lake Ontario. This region is known asCanada Fruitbelt and, in addition to large-scale commercial fruit marketing, it encourages "pick-your-own" activities in the harvest season.^{[citation needed]}

InSpain,Murcia is a major orchard area (or la huerta) in Europe, with citrus crops. New Zealand, China, Argentina, and Chile also have extensive apple orchards.^{[citation needed]}

Tenbury Wells inWorcestershire has been calledThe Town in the Orchard, since the 19th century, because it was surrounded by extensive orchards. Today, this heritage is celebrated through an annualApplefest.^[3]

Streuobstwiese (pl.Streuobstwiesen) is a German word that means a meadow with scattered fruit trees or fruit trees that are planted in a field.^[4]Streuobstwiese, or a meadow orchard,^[5] is a traditional landscape in the temperate, maritime climate of continental Western Europe. In the 19th and early 20th centuries,Streuobstwiesen were a kind of a rural community orchard that were intended for the productive cultivation ofstone fruit. In recent years, ecologists have successfully lobbied for state subsidies to valuablehabitats,biodiversity andnatural landscapes, which are also used to preserve old meadow orchards. Both conventional and meadow orchards provide a suitable habitat for many animal species that live in a cultured landscape. A notable example is thehoopoe that nests in tree hollows of old fruit trees and, in the absence of alternative nesting sites, is threatened in many parts ofEurope because of the destruction of old orchards.^[6]

• Orchards in various regions
•  
  Alemon orchard in theUpper Galilee inIsrael
•  
  Acommunityapple orchard originally planted for productive use during the 1920s, inWestcliff on Sea (Essex, England)
•  
  Streuobstwiese, a rural community orchard, traditionally for productive use. Today endorsed for its quality of habitat and biodiversity.
•  
  Apple orchards inAzwell, Washington, surrounding a community ofpickers' cabins
•  
  Sourcherry orchard onLake Erie shoreline (Leamington, Ontario)
•  
  Old growth apple orchard in Ottawa, Canada

• Orchard House inConcord, Massachusetts, was the residence of American celebrated writerLouisa May Alcott.
• Fruita, Utah, part ofCapitol Reef National Park hasMormon pioneer orchards maintained by theUnited States National Park Service.

Historical orchards have large, mature trees spaced for heavy equipment. Modern commercialapple orchards, by contrast and as one example, are often "high-density" (tree density above 370/ha or 150/acre), and in extreme cases have up to 22,000/ha (9,000/acre). These plants are no longer trees in the traditional sense, but instead resemble vines on dwarf stock and require trellises to support them.^[7]

•  
  Pear orchard in Sirkovo,North Macedonia
•  
  Cherry orchard in Sirkovo,North Macedonia
•  
  Peach orchard in Sirkovo,North Macedonia

Now new "Smart Orchards" are being set up throughout the world.^[8] The first examples of such orchards are the Smart Orchard atWashington , United States of America by Innov8 andWashington State University^[9] and Samriti Bagh orchard created in Maraog, India by Tejasvi Dogra^[10] that incorporates the use of various sensors for orchard management.^[11]

• Natural England, through itsCountryside Stewardship Scheme,Environmental Stewardship andEnvironmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme, gives grant aid and advice for the maintenance, enhancement or re-creation of historical orchards.^[12]
• The Orchard Link organisation provides advice on how to manage and restore the county ofDevon's orchards, as well as enabling the local community to use the local orchard produce.^[13] An organisation called Orchards Live carries out similar work in North Devon.^[14]
• People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) has mapped every traditional orchard within England and Wales and manages the national inventory for this habitat.^[15]
• The UK Biodiversity Partnership lists traditional orchards and a priorityUK Biodiversity Action Plan habitat.^[16]
• TheWiltshire Traditional Orchards Project maps, conserves and restores traditional orchards within Wiltshire, England.^{[citation needed]}
• An interim report from theNational Trust showed that orchards had reduced in scale from approximately 95,000 hectares in the period 1892–1914, to 41,000 hectares overall in 2022.^[17] The campaign #BlossomWatch is part of a wider programme of work by the Trust to plant 68 new orchards by 2025,^[18] and four million trees with blossom by 2030.^[19]

• Belle van Dorn Harbert (born 1860), fruit farmer, founder of International Congress of Farm Women^{[citation needed]}

• Climate-friendly gardening
• Forest
• Forest farming
• Forest gardening
• Fruit tree forms
• Fruit tree pollination
• Fruit tree propagation
• Fruit tree pruning
• Wood industry

• Home Orchard Society
• Pennsylvania tree fruit production guide; a guide on how to set up an orchard in practice
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Orchard" .Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.