adriamycin

Hi Keith! I stumbled on your channel & reddit presence a few months ago and have learned so much. I'm an engineer as well, and really like the more scientific approach that you take. I'm always really interested in the specific details of why something works, and this sort of detail seems to be lacking in a lot of permaculture/gardening resources that I've come across.

I am in the early stages of converting as much of my tiny suburban back yard to a "mini food forest". Since my space is so limited, I'm really curious to know about how closely I can space things (particularly fruit trees). I'd love to jam in as much as I can partly because it will make my yard look more like a natural landscape (I like my neighbours, but don't want to see them), and partly because I absolutely love the taste of fruit that's literally just come off the tree. My understanding is that most fruit trees respond well to pruning, but I'm wondering how much I can really cram into a limited space... especially when considering how big the trees will get when mature. I noticed in your recent video about the drip edges, you put the trees quite close together. I'd like to know what the longer-term plan for this is - will you prune or cut down some of the trees as the others grow, or just let them sort it out amongst themselves?

Any other advice for planting in a really small space (with lots of sun)? I'm in Ottawa, so pretty much the same zone as you. Thanks!

thanks so much for the replies! I've seen mentions of planting multiple fruit trees in the same hole, so I was thinking I could be "conservative" compared to nature and still keep most of the trees happy as they grow. Excellent point about combining the pear & paw paw for future growth... that's exactly the sort of approach that I'm hoping to incorporate.