Backyard orchard culture questions

Hi all, I'm planning on planting a small orchard in my backyard. Currently I have 3 apples (different varieties, I forget their names at the moment, sorry) and 2 almonds. They are sitting in pots awaiting their final destination. My question is, is it bad to have the apples and almonds in the same area? Should I put them far away from each other?

I was planning on putting the apples in the middle of my planting area in a 3x3 raised bed since the drainage test I did yesterday took 3 hours for the first filling to drain and 3+ hours for the second. Then I was planning on putting the almonds on either side, about 15' away from the apple bed. Stage 2 will be another couple beds 15' beyond that of pears, cherries, and ? I haven't decided. I just don't know if somehow the nuts would be bad in this area with cross pollination or something?

Anything that takes more than 2 hours to drain is a lot of clay or may have a clay pan underneath. If there is a clay pan, you have to break through it so the soil will drain properly.

Are these three apple trees miniature or colunmar apple trees? Those are the only ones that could be planted in a 3 X 3 foot square and that would be pushing it. You would have a great deal of root competition. Depending on the variety and dwarfing rootstock, dwarf apple trees can get up to 15 feet tall and about as wide. Semi-dwarf apple trees may get 20 ft. Given that standard apple trees can get 35 feet tall, it's important to know what you have.

As long as the trees are within 500 feet from each other pollination won't be a problem. Almonds are among the earliest trees to bloom — February in California. While the trees may survive your winters, it the spring frost that are likely to kill your flowers. I now live in zone 8b. Almonds are not recommended because on average our last frost date is March 15th.

Consider the ultimate tree size. Get graph paper and plot out your garden using the mature size for each tree you plan to add to your garden. It sounds as if your orchard is going to be very crowded. Even dwarf cherry trees can get over 20 ft tall. Healthy trees require good air circulation.

Thank you for your comments bettydee.

As for the soil, I plan on loosening the soil under the raised bed and building the bed 12" high.

These are semidwarf trees and I'm following the backyard orchard culture as described on the DaveWilson web site. I'd post the link but I haven't read the guidlines and how tos on such procedures on this site yet...It's all about pruning to keep the tree no bigger that your arms can reach. Good air circulation is taken into consideration.

The almonds are Halls Hardy which is supposed to be good to zone 5. The more I read about them though, I think I'll plant them in the front yard as ornamentals. If we end up getting any decent tasting nuts it'll be a bonus.

I was hoping that someone here had used this system and could give me some input.

We planted some Hall's in the mid 80's in central Tx. We moved long time ago but the trees are still there. The pic below was taken a couple years ago. We never got any nuts off the tree, they bloomed and then frost got them. I think farther north they will not bloom so early. We planted some when we moved here, about 100 miles south of where we were before. The trees made nuts ok, then after about 4 years they just died, all 3 of them. The problem we have always had with almonds is the shells are like titanium and its difficult to get to the meat of the nut. They were lovely landscape trees with their beautiful spring flowers. Hope you enjoy them... Tom