What do you do with a high desert parcel?

[PineappleMama]

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Okay, score one for the high desert.

 

[cassie]

I lived in La Grande Oregon when I was a small child. It is in eastern Oregon and it is high desert. It gets COLD there. Sometimes the winter temperatures would be like 30 below and the snow would drift up to the eaves. If you search areas like Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, etc. land values are affordable.

 

[Xtina]

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Interesting! I wonder if any orchard trees grow well in that kind of cold though.

 

[PineappleMama]

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Current score -29.

 

[debilorrah]

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Interesting! I wonder if any orchard trees grow well in that kind of cold though.

Each tree has a season. Apples are done for the year here now, as are most trees that produce. Strawberries start coming up about March, corn through October. The apple trees here are overflowing in August and September. Cherries middle of the summer. Fall lulls them to sleep through the winter, then spring wakes them up again.

 

[Xtina]

I just looked it up at the extension office. There's a PDF that recommends apples, pears, plums, and sour cherries. I wish it were sweet cherries because I don't like sour cherries and I'm not a huge fan of any of those other fruits either. But I'd still start an orchard. It seems almost perfect, unless I'm underestimating the amount of work an orchard requires. I know they take money, which is fine because you can start slowly and build over the years. Do they need irrigation out there, or can you just plant them and let them do their thing as they grow up?

 

[debilorrah]

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We water them. However there are plenty of empty houses here that had fruit laden trees over the summer with no water. With no water the apples and plums are smaller, bt still delicious.

 

[Xtina]

That's a really important point, because I'm sure the parcels I'm seeing for sale don't perc and don't have any streams.

 

[debilorrah]

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Quite often parcels that LOOK barren and unfinished actually have some wiring and plumbing underground. It may already be accessible to well water too. Just double check each parcel.