We started raised bed gardening for a very practical reason. We have very little native soil. We truly do live at the top of a rocky hill with maybe a few inches of topsoil before you hit shale that goes down hundreds (I’m guessing here) of feet.
We didn’t know when we bought Rocky Hill that there were existing fruit trees! Two apples and a plum tree sat along side our driveway.
What we didn’t realize was how much care the apple trees take, we have battled cedar apple rust, insects and even our own goats, who evidently find my apple trees the most delicious thing in the whole of the homestead!
Some years, we have a pretty good harvest, I’ve made apple butter and apple sauce, canned apple pie filling (that was GOOD) and jugs of apple cider vinegar.