An orchard is an intentional plantation of or that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree- or nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large , where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive purpose.
Most modern commercial orchards are planted for a single variety of fruit. While the importance of introducing biodiversity 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 in forests.
Orchards are sometimes concentrated near bodies of water where climate extremes are microclimate and flower time is retarded until frost danger is past.
Layout
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:
For different varieties, these systems may vary to some extent.
Orchards by region
The most extensive orchards in the United States are apple and orange orchards, although citrus orchards are more commonly called groves. The most extensive apple orchard area is in eastern Washington state, with a lesser but significant apple orchard area in most of Upstate New York. Extensive orange orchards are found in
Florida and southern
California. In eastern
North America, many orchards are along the shores of
Lake Michigan (such as the Fruit Ridge Region),
Lake Erie, and
Lake Ontario.
In Canada, apple and other fruit orchards are widespread on the Niagara Peninsula, south of Lake Ontario. This region is known as Canada Fruitbelt and, in addition to large-scale commercial fruit marketing, it encourages "pick-your-own" activities in the harvest season.
In Spain, 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.
Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire has been called The Town in the Orchard, since the 19th century, because it was surrounded by extensive orchards. Today, this heritage is celebrated through an annual Applefest.
Central Europe
Streuobstwiese (pl. Streuobstwiesen) is a German word that means a meadow with scattered fruit trees or fruit trees that are planted in a field.
Streuobstwiese, or a meadow orchard,
[ Streuobstwiese: meadow orchard in German-English Collins Dictionary] 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 of
stone fruit. In recent years, ecologists have successfully lobbied for state subsidies to valuable
,
biodiversity and natural 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 the
hoopoe that nests in tree hollows of old fruit trees and, in the absence of alternative nesting sites, is threatened in many parts of
Europe because of the destruction of old orchards.
[Berhens M. Why hoopoes won't trade. A Pro Natura Publication on the Global Economy and Nature. Pro Natura, Switzerland, pp. 8–9. ]
File:Lemon Orchard in the Galilee by David Shankbone.jpg|A lemon orchard in the Upper Galilee in Israel
File:Orchard3.jpg|A community apple orchard originally planted for productive use during the 1920s, in Westcliff on Sea (Essex, England)
File:Tuebingen Streuobstwiese.jpg|Streuobstwiese, a rural community orchard, traditionally for productive use. Today endorsed for its quality of habitat and biodiversity.
File:Azwell WA.jpg|Apple orchards in Azwell, Washington, surrounding a community of Fruit picking cabins
File:Sour cherry 3428.JPG|Sour cherry orchard on Lake Erie shoreline (Leamington, Ontario)
File:AppleOrchard.jpg|Old growth apple orchard in Ottawa, Canada
Historical orchards
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Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, was the residence of American celebrated writer Louisa May Alcott.
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Fruita, Utah, part of Capitol Reef National Park has Mormon pioneer orchards maintained by the United States National Park Service.
Modern orchards
Historical orchards have large, mature trees spaced for heavy equipment. Modern commercial
apple orchards, by contrast and as one example, are often "high-density" (tree density above ), and in extreme cases have up to . These plants are no longer trees in the traditional sense, but instead resemble vines on dwarf stock and require trellises to support them.
File:Крушови дрвја во Сирково 02.jpg|Pear orchard in Sirkovo, North Macedonia
File:Цреши МК 10.jpg|Cherry orchard in Sirkovo, North Macedonia
File:Овоштарник со праски.jpg|Peach orchard in Sirkovo, North Macedonia
Now new "Smart Orchards" are being set up throughout the world.
Orchard conservation in the UK
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Natural England, through its Countryside Stewardship Scheme, Environmental Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme, gives grant aid and advice for the maintenance, enhancement or re-creation of historical orchards.
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The Orchard Link organisation provides advice on how to manage and restore the county of Devon's orchards, as well as enabling the local community to use the local orchard produce.
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People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) has mapped every traditional orchard within England and Wales and manages the national inventory for this habitat.
[PTES Traditional Orchard Survey]
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The UK Biodiversity Partnership lists traditional orchards and a priority UK Biodiversity Action Plan habitat.
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The Wiltshire Traditional Orchards Project maps, conserves and restores traditional orchards within Wiltshire, England.
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An interim report from the National 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.
Notable people
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Belle van Dorn Harbert (born 1860), fruit farmer, founder of International Congress of Farm Women
See also
External links
