With the drought on everyone’s mind, many people are reluctant to plant fruit trees in case they won’t be able to water them enough.

Obviously, growing fruit at home has multiple advantages - its cheaper, the fruit has a smaller footprint (i.e. there is no transportation or production cost to the environment), you know the fruit is chemical free and you have a beautiful tree to look at and for shade.

So can we still plant and grow fruit trees in the drought?

Yes, we can. I once heard Jackie French talk about her orchard of hundreds of trees which she hasn’t watered in years yet still produces huge amounts of fruit - and temperatures reach the high 40s where she lives.

So how can you grow fruit with minimal water? Start with preparing your soil - lots of compost and aeration will hold more moisture than compacted old soil. Adding water saving crystals is also a good idea (although I don’t think Jackie does that.) Then mulch the area to maintain more moisture.

Most importantly, plant the trees in groups to create a grove of trees. By having trees in groups rather than in rows, the trees will help each other. The canopy of touching branches will reduce evaporation out of the grove and will collect all rain that falls onto the leaves.

Other than when planting and establishing the trees, you shouldn’t need to water them very often if at all. Then you will not only have beautiful fruit to eat but will be reducing your environmental footprint, too.