After recently moving to Gatchell, I've come to realize this
neighbourhood is Sudbury's very own Garden of Eden.
The yards in this area of town feature luscious gardens
complete with hops and grapevine arbors and an abundance of
hardy fruit trees.
Gatchell is nestled in a valley protected by Inco's slag
piles from the north and the Big Nickel and Dynamic Earth from
the west.
That means the cold north and west winds are blocked,
allowing the area to bask in the sun's warmth, just like balmy
Italy from where many of the residents  emigrated.
Leave it to the Italian residents to buy property in one of
the most sheltered areas of the city. Apples, plums, grapes,
and even figs (protected in winter of course), abound in this
neighbourhood. The fruit trees and the lovely vegetable gardens
are especially notable when you walk the alleyways behind the
houses.
An apple tree, of unknown variety, grows in front of my
house in Gatchell. While it was planted decades ago, according
to my neighbours, the tree continues to bear loads of sweet
tasty apples every year. In the back of the property is a
gnarled cherry tree, which still bears the delicious fruit.
These trees survived the killer winter of 93/94.  I know that winter well, as most of my fruit trees planted at my former property just south of Sudbury simply perished or died back to just above the graft union.
Many were purchased from local nurseries that brought them
up from southern Ontario.
I learned my lesson that year, as did Ron Lewis of Naughton who
also lost some trees from warmer climates. Lewis has been
selling hardy fruit trees for 25 years. He imports them from
the prairies.
"Don't be disappointed by planting trees that are suited
only for warmer climate zones. My trees were bred by prairie
agricultural institutes especially for harsh growing
conditions," said Lewis in his 2006 Fruit Tree and Giant
Pumpkin catalogue.
Aside from the tasty treats produced, there is another
reason for growing fruit trees. I enjoy nourishing heritage
varieties -some originating far back in time.
Duchess of Oldenburg, originating from Russia in the 1600s,
is one of the pioneer apples that came to North America via the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1835.
The Duchess is valued for its extreme hardiness and cooking
abilities. The fruit is smallish (at least on my former tree)
and is greenish yellow with red splashing. It also ripens
early, a bonus in our short season.
The Duchess is also known to be a very disease-resistant
apple, especially for apple scab, rust, fireblight and mildew.
Then there are the English russets, like Ashmead's Kernel,
planted by Dr. Ashmead from Gloucester from seed (kernel) over
300 years ago and renowned for being very tasty. 
I found my tree was fussy regarding hardiness, so I grafted the Ashmead's on top of a Beautiful Arcade Russian rootstock apple, to give it more of a chance. That worked, and last fall I noticed it produced fruiting spurs.
Interested in being an edible landscaper? For advice, phone Lewis at 692-4592 or join my new green gardening and energy group, PECAN, at [email protected] .