I have 2 Washington Navels and 2 Valencias from around 1950. I have a Pink Marsh Grapefruit, Minneola Tangelo, 2 different Lemons, Fig, Peach, Apple, and a Fuerte Avocado from the 1970s. All of the above were choked in ivy when we bought the house 16 years ago. I've gradually worked on them but the fig, peach, and apple are not going to make it. I will probably add a few small figs in a different place at some point. The current fig is trying to damage a retaining wall and is lifting the pool decking on the other side of the retaining wall. 3" Fig roots are competing with the Valencia 25 feet away the other direction. I'll probably end up with about 10 full size citrus, about 10 small citrus in the old grove area, about 15 more in pots or espaliered against walls. I expected to have 3 full size Avos but looks like I might end up with 4-5. I have one Pomegranate and was planning on a guava and persimmon but think I will run out of room. In order to put the small Avocado upwind from the pool, I would need to be sure it wasn't blowing pollen into the pool during the swimming season. I see my Fuerte and my friend's commercial Haas orchard both getting ready to flower now even though the fruit will be ripe at very different times. I just don't know if this is normal since the weather this year is so bizarre. This post was edited by GregBradley on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 11:46

Well, thank you for your kind words. I am very blessed to have a lovely, lovely piece of property in a wonderful neighborhood with a perfect climate. We pinch ourselves every day that we are so fortunate. As far as intensively planting fruit trees - depends on the type of tree. With stone fruits, you can get away with one-hole planting if you're a good pruner. Not so much with citrus. They need their own "space", even if it's tight. If you're considering intensive planting with citrus, I would strongly recommend truly dwarfing rootstocks ('Flying Dragon' if you can find it, or at the least, Cuban Shaddock, which is what Four Winds puts most of their trees on). Boy, it is really hard to limit my trees to just the 5 favorites. Here is the list of what I really, really love in my yard, not in any top to bottom order: Seedless Kishu Mandarin Ponkan Mandarin California Honey Mandarin Page Mandarin (nothing beats it for juice) Moro Orange Tarocco Orange Wekiwa Tangelolo Valentine Pommelo hybrid Cocktail Pommelo hybrid Melogold/Oroblanco grapefruit hybrid Jan Boyce Avocado Reed Avocado Comice Pear Seckel Pear Any of my 3 different Fuji apples (Fuji, Red Fuji, Myra Fuji) Spice Zee Necatplum Artic Star Necatrine Royal Lee Cherry Any of my flat peento peaches (several varieties) Ronde de Bordeaux fig Panache fig Just to name a few :-) I would strongly urge you to join your local CRFG Chapter. Find out who is your real fruit tree guru in your chapter. See if you can find someone in the chapter that has done what you want to do. It really, really helps to have someone to pattern after, and have as a sounding board. You should have a fairly active chapter up in SF. In fact, there are some rather famous citrus hobbyist growers up in N. California that you might want to make sure you visit, if your CRFG chapter has any tours set up. You will find membership extremely helpful in what you're trying to accomplish. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: California Rare Fruit Growers

I do the same as mksmth. I have my citrus and my avos on the same drip station and I have them on approximately the same volume based on tree size. If you're concerned that your avocadoes are not getting enough water, you can easily remedy that by changing the drip at each tree to a higher or lower volume drip nozzle. So, you should be able to keep them all on the same station, just adjust the volume at each tree if needed. You'll know because your avos will look droopy if they're not getting enough water. And if they're really not getting enough water, they'll respond by dropping their leaves. Patty S.

Consider an Improved Meyer lemon for your first lemon tree. They are very forgiving, and also are big producers. You can purchase just about any citrus on dwarfing rootstock, which will help to keep your tree a little smaller, if size is an issue. Pruning can too, but know it will also cause a reduced harvest, at least for a season, maybe two. Avocados tend to be large trees, so consider a smaller, more compact variety, such as Littlecado (Wurtz) or Holiday, unless you have a fairly large area to dedicate to an avocado. If you can purchase in 5 gal containers, you'll get an established tree that will produce next season for you. Avocados do better with a cross-pollinator. They are divided into A and B types, so it can help if you have one of each, unless you have other avocados nearby that can provide cross pollination for you. Both avos and citrus like good drainage and lots of sun, plus a fair amount of wataer - avocados even more so than citrus. A good long watering once a week, or twice a week if the temps soar is the best way to water. No grass underneath your trees, just a nice large well as big around as the tree's drip line, well mulched with compost and bark to retain moisture here in our drier S. Calif. weather, taking care not to pile the compost or mulch around the tree trunk, as that can cause the bark to get too moist and can lead to rot. Also, for your young citrus and avo trees, paint their trunks and exposed branches with plain old flat white latex house paint, diluted in 1/2 with water. NOT oil-based paint, but water-based flat latex paint to protect their tender trunks. This will also protect your trees from boring insects as well. Be sure to protect them from snails and slugs (both of which love to munch on citrus leaves, and will cause extensive damage and introduce other diseases.) If you have an option to plant both on a south-facing slope, you'll make them very happy :-) You'll want to check your soil drainage first, before planting. Dig a hole twice as wide as the tree root ball, and as deep as the top of the root ball. Fill the hole with water. If it drains in 24 hours, you've got enough drainage to plant both. If not, you may need to plant your trees so that the top of the root ball is a couple of inches above the soil level (if you're in clay). You can also top with worm castings with the compost. Both help to acidify our somewhat alkaline soil, which helps both trees take up micronutrients better. Your avocado will drop its leaves, but it is very important to leave them under the tree as mulch. Avos do NOT like their roots disturbed, so when you plant your avocado, take care to very carefully plant it without disturbing the root ball. Don't lift it by the trunk. Turn it on its side to loosen it up from the pot, and gently slide the pot off. Then, carefully place it in the hole. Backfill with your native soil. Then top dress with the worm castings and compost, then top with bark mulch. Be sure to create a nice big well so the water will collect in a ring around the drip line of the tree, and soak down to the feeder roots. Fertilize your new trees every 2 months with a good citrus/avocado fertilizer. Citrus like as close to a 5:1:3 NPK ratio. Avos are a little more forgiving. If you see aphids, just blast them off with a forceful water spray. Put out ant bait to keep the ants out of the tree and from farming the aphids. It's better to plant in the fall when temps are lower, or in early spring. Summers here are really awfully hot to be planting young trees. You can chance it, but I'd suggest providing temporary shade, and a LOT of water. And, there are so many good books out there. Here are just a few: The Sunset Western Garden Book - this is THE essential gardening book for anyone living in California Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles Growing Citrus: The Essential Gardener's Guide Citrus: Complete Guide to Selecting & Growing More Than 100 Varieties for California, Arizona Texas, the Gulf Coast and Florida The Biology of Citrus by Pinhas Spiegel-Roy& Eliezer E. Goldschmidt The University of California Agricultural & Natural Resources (UC ANR) has a number of very good articles & books as well, here's their web site: http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/ And, UC Davis has a great California Backyard Orchard web site. I've included the main link, but here are links for avocados and for citrus: http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/Fruits_&Nuts/Avocado/ http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/Fruits&_Nuts/Citrus/ Lastly, you might want to consider joining your local California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) group in your area. They have a very well organized organization, and there are some real experts that belong to the group who can mentor and assist you in learning how to grow fruit trees in California. Their main web site is: http://www.crfg.org/ Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: UC Davis: The California Backyard Orchard