An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs maintained specifically for food production. These areas comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees that are generally cultivated for commercial purposes, though they may also serve as aesthetic features within large gardens.
While a fruit garden is often synonymous with an orchard, the two differ in scale; a fruit garden is typically non-commercial and smaller, sometimes emphasizing berry shrubs over larger fruit trees. In temperate zones, orchards are commonly organized in a regular grid pattern with a base of bare soil or mown grass to facilitate maintenance and harvesting.