Companion Planting Density in an Orchard

by David
(East Maitland, Australia)

I have a small orchard in the backyard consisting of 2 Ballerinna Apples, a Mandarin, 2 Lemons, 2 Starfruit, Paw Paw, Tamarillo, Passion fruit vine. They are all 18months old in the ground.

I am interested in companion planting and am finding it hard to get an idea of how many and how far apart the companion plants should be.

For example recommended companion plants for apples are clover, nasturtium, garlic etc.

If i was going to use a circle around my apple for the companion plants
1. how big should the circle be.
2 inside this circle how many of these companion plants should be planted of each variety.
3 Should I plant the taller varieties to the inside and the smaller e.g clover to the outside or the opposite, maybe even stagger the heights?.

Any advice with this problem would be much appreciated.

MEG: Place taller plants to the south so that smaller may get enough sunlight. Allow recommended spacings for each plant. Those that can handle summer shade can be put closer to the trunk.