Intentionally planted trees or shrubs that are maintained for food production
This article is about the planting of trees in agriculture. For other uses, seeOrchard (disambiguation).
Apple orchard lanes with apples fallen off the treesMeadow orchard (Streuobstwiese) with view to theLochenhörnle [de]
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 inforest 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 in forests.[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]
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 ruralcommunity 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]
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]
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.[9] An organisation called Orchards Live carries out similar work in North Devon.[10]
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.[13] The campaign #BlossomWatch is part of a wider programme of work by the Trust to plant 68 new orchards by 2025,[14] and four million trees with blossom by 2030.[15]
