We sell fruit trees and berry plants in Central MN. Here are some example yard designs to give you ideas for your house.

Small Yard If you only have a small yard you could do something like this.

This red house is an example of how you could grow a garden in the front yard with some rocks around the garden for a border with nice grass in the rest of the yard. This house has a patch of red raspberries and some tomato plants. This is a great place to start even if you have a small yard. Here are the supplies you would need:

1. Nice Rocks, 25 feet
2. Compost soil, 10 bags
3. Raspberry plants x10
4. Tomato plants 1-3

Construction You can build this in two days, one day to get all the supplies and another day to put it together. You only need a wheel barrel and a shovel. Start by staking out the area you are going to put your garden, than add the rocks around the outside follows my dumping the compost soil bags inside the rocks. Finally add the plants and water daily unless you get a good rain.

Mid-Size Yard If you have a mid-size yard, this white house is an example of how you could plant a row of fruit trees and a large berry garden with walking path between them. Blueberries and honeyberries are easy to get started, great for kids and easy to freeze for eating all winter. You can add wood chips or landscaping fabric between the plants to keep the moisture in and the weeds down. I also like to put about 3 feet landscaping weed barrier around the base of my fruit trees. Here are the supplies you would need:

1. Wood chips, 10 dags
2. Landscape fabric, 25 foot roll
3. Fruit trees, x8
4. Blueberries or Honeyberries, x8
5. Compost soil bags, x8

Construction You can build this in a few days, one day to get all the supplies and another day to put it together. You only need a wheel barrel and a shovel. Start by staking out the area you are going to put your plants and fruit trees. Next dig the holes where you are going to plant your fruit trees. I would start with 4 apple trees, 2 cherry and 2 plum trees. I would get 2 chestnut apple trees because they start producing in a few years so that you can start eating apple while you wait for your other 2 apple trees, probably one honeycrisp and one other popular variety like sweet sixteen or frostbite. Add one bag of compost to each hole when planting the fruit trees. Then plant the honeyberries or blueberries and add the wood chips around the base. Blueberries don't like wood chips as much and they are fussy about the acidity of the soil. I add acid soil enhancer twice a year to my blueberries.

Large Yard If you have a large yard you could do something like this.

This is an example of how you could grow a large garden with many fruit trees if you have 1 or more acres. There is a lot to think about when your garden is this large and its a good idea to draw your plans on paper first and break your garden into sections of different plants that have similar needs. For example, what plants need to be watered daily and which plans could have problems with wind or bugs or animals. After you have a design on paper, I would add one section each year with about 8 different sections. That will give you time to figure out how to plant, water and process all your food. Here are the supplies you would need for each section:

1. Deer fence, 25 feet
2. Compost soil, 2 yards
3. Landscape fabric, 50 foot roll
4. Fruit/berry trees, x8-30

Construction This is going to take years to build out. Start with the section closed to your house so that it is easier to access with water and hauling in compost. Spend a day measuring the section and deciding which plants you are going to plant and find a nursery that has the plants you want. Spend another day shoveling 2 yards of fresh compost in the area and deciding on the walking paths. I cover all my walking paths with heavy landscaping fabric and make sure they are at least 4 feet wide. I don't want to spend any time weeding my walking paths. Day three, you buy your plants and bring them home and lay them out in the area to make sure they are going to fit like you had planned. Now you are ready for planting, you may need to till your compost into the soil and add fertilizer around your plants. Day four, water everything and add landscaping fabric around all your plants, no time for weeds. Install deer fence around each tree if you are planting fruit trees or around the entire garden section if you can. If you are planting vegetables than you need to install a rabit fence. If you are planting a berry patch you need get a bird net and a plan to install the net when the berries are just about ready. Because there are so many things to consider, you may end up moving things around to group them into areas that are easier to manage. Finally you need to figure out how to harvest and process the food from this new section and still have time to harvest the other sections of your garden. Next year add another section until you have all 8 sections completed.