If soil drainage is your problem, there are some workarounds for that. You
should amend your soil with sand and mulch to encourge drainage. Add peat
to the soil if it is very heavy with clay. I just picked over 300 apples today from
my semi-dwarf Hudson's Golden Gem in my yard, and my ground is as
flat as you can get. I get pretty good results from my other 15 trees, as well.
I'm not trying to brag or make you feel bad, but make you aware that unless
you live in a very unusual place, you should be able to grow fruit in your
backyard.

Sherwin D.

James wrote:

I've learned that location is very important to growing apples. I will
never get good apples from my trees because they are in my back yard
instead of a hill somewhere.