Hi Bill,
to NGA
I have some thoughts for you:
Choose varieties that don't all ripen at the same time.
Give them lots of room. At least 15 feet between each planting hole.
Plant two trees per hole. You can plant twice as many that way. They grow to form a single canopy with two trunks. Choose trees with similar eventual size. Don't plant a walnut with a peach, for instance.
Spend some time going to local farmers markets and taste fruit. Ask for the names of the ones you like best.
Don't plant your entire orchard in one year. Plant a couple peaches now and plant a couple more in 5 years. Then, when the first two die of old age, you still have peaches while waiting for the replacements to grow up.
Walnut trees get huge! Plan accordingly. Walnuts should be planted 25 to 30 feet apart.
Learn the growing conditions and pruning and spraying needs of all the trees you plant.
Plant PLUOTS! I love pluots. They need a pollinizer, usually a plum or another pluot. My personal favorites are Splash, Dinosaur Egg and Flavor King (and those 3 will pollinate eachother).
I think that's it.
