Planting Fruit trees in clay soil

We have clay soil on our property which is bad for fruit trees. The clay soil will hold water and cause the roots of the trees to rot. When it is dry it is hard and will prevent root growth. So we used raised beds made out of logs we harvested from out property. We made a mixture of topsoil and wood chips to create a better draining soil. We mounded the soil in the raised bed and planted the fruit tree in it. We then covered the soil with a layer of wood chips to mulch around the tree. The wood chips we made using tree limbs from our property and a DR chipper Shredder.

We created the orchard on a slope of the hill that is the highest point on our property. The slope should also help the rain to drain away from the trees and hopefully the clay soil will hold less water in that location.

We planted Apples, Plums, Cherries, Peaches, Pears, and a Nectarine.