Doesn’t it feel like everyone has a “5 year plan” these days? You know, that one where they are gonna save a whole bunch of money and build their dream home in the country …. Well I have one too. Didn’t see that one coming did ya? But mine is a little different because mine is all about my future yard, garden, and orchard …. maybe even more then the house! Don’t get me wrong, I have big plans for my future farmhouse too, but I DREAM about my property night and day. And if you added up all the things I want in my yard someday …. a water slide, an orchard, a huge greenhouse, a mini vineyard, a maple tree forest, an enormous fenced garden, a baseball diamond, and on and on and on …. they probably cost more than the entire house. I have big dreams guys …. and expensive ones unfortunately.
So I got to thinking, what can I do to make my dream orchard possible? Well I have to find a way for it to NOT cost me $3000 (that’s 100 trees at $30 each). And the best way to do that is figure out how to get the trees for less money.
Smaller trees = less $
Obviously if I get smaller trees though, it’s gonna take longer to get anything from them. That is why we are starting a few years early, in pots, buckets, or anything else you can find that will hold a tree! You can even plant your baby tree in the ground and then transplant it later to your dream property. Preparation saves money. And, I get a tiny taste of my dream orchard before I even have it! Well I guess I HAVE it, it’s just mini.
So the goal is to find the absolute cheapest tree, no matter the size. There are a lot of ways to do that.
- One of my favorites is to start your own from a cutting. That costs ….. $0
- Some trees send up runners and you can dig them up … $0
- Other trees you can start from seeds/pits collected from the mother tree … $0
- Sometimes nurseries have damaged trees for very cheap that can still be saved with some TLC …. $0-10
But all of these require you to know someone that has the tree you want. And sometimes that just doesn’t happen.
So today I am going to tell you how to get 100 trees for less then $500 no matter who you know!
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You can order tiny trees or seeds of any variety online and have them shipped right to you. Then you plant them in a container and take care of them until you move into your dream home and have a place to plant them. By the time that happens, they will be as big as, or maybe even bigger than those $30 trees you would have bought. Just decide how much you will pay per tree and don’t budge on that! Keep looking till you find it for that price, and you’re well on your way to your dream orchard. If your limit is $5 a tree then you will have your orchard for $2500 less then it would be if you waited 5 years and had to buy bigger trees.
- Find and order the tree you want online. There are a million places you can do this, just look hard and make sure to search for “seedling” or “sapling” or you will never find the babies. Oddly enough, amazon sells fruit tree seeds and some small trees. Check out THIS RAINIER CHERRY for only $3, or THIS DWARF MANGO for your greenhouse for $5, or 30 BARTLETT PEAR SEEDS for $4. I have also had good luck with trees from gurneys.com, especially nuts, because they often have 50% off coupons. You can watch places like craigslist, ebay, or other search places like cheap-r.com and search for “fruit seedlings”. *some of those are affiliate links, some not
- When your seeds or tree show up plant them as soon as possible. If you ordered seeds just follow the specific instructions for that type of tree on the packet. If you ordered a tree, put it in a bucket of water for a few hours to soak up before planting it.
Plant in a LARGE (you don’t wanna be transplanting a bunch of times) pot or container full of potting soil or compost and don’t let it dry out. - Take care of your trees for the next few years until your ready to plant them in their permanent home.
Dream orchards are a little more attainable when they only cost $500. If you look hard enough you might even end up with an almost free one! Then imagine how much more awesome your orchard will be when you know how hard you worked to find each tree. Thanks to this plan, I have the beginning of my own dream orchard with sugar maples, walnuts, pecans, apricots, and a whole bunch of other plants just growing happily and waiting patiently for the day we reach the end of our “5 year plan”.
Anyone else have a great way to save money on your future orchard? I wanna hear it!
~Farmer’s Wife
