That’s some planning, there. I like it!

My philosophy on growing gardens and trees in particular is “mix ’em up and stuff as many species into a space as possible!”

Don’t plant a citrus next to a citrus or an apple next to an apple. Plant them in a big mix and you’ll make the bad bugs work harder to make the jump from one tree to another. Apple pests usually only like apples, citrus pests usually like only citrus. Put gaps between the trees that are the same or even similar species and you’ll give things a little protection. To add more protection and good insects, throw in other edible, medicinal, insectary and nitrogen-fixing species. You can grow a ring of gingers in the shade of a loquat tree… or plant a chaste tree between fruit trees for medicine and to attract more bees. Cassias fix nitrogen and will improve the soil from below and from above as you cut them repeatedly for mulch. I share some species lists in the appendices of my book Create Your Own Florida Food Forest which will help.

The problem: if you can’t go “food forest” style, you’re looking more at a traditional orchard, which isn’t the easiest thing to grow in Florida. Florida wants to be a rambling, scrubby forest, so unless you have sheep, you’ll need to keep the grass down and mulch around the bases of the trees to get them established properly. Messy is better, unfortunately for those good people like your husband who want to keep things orderly.

As a husband myself, my advice is to do whatever he says. However, if you can talk him into letting you simply mulch the trees in big rings and plant some nice plants around their bases, you’ll be partway there.

I didn’t always pick plants and place them according to what I thought would be “perfect,” I just went for maximum diversity and food. If I was at the market and saw a butterfly plant I liked, I bought it and planted it next to one of my fruit trees. I did the same with herbs, flowers, vines and all kinds of roots. Anywhere I had a gap, I popped in a plant.

My place: