07-14-2018, 10:12 AM
Not sure what you mean by your map "working as designed". All maps work the same way. However, crops/orchards grow best in mild climates and have issues with extreme climates.
Orchards do not "grow naturally". You need to plant seeds which come with Easy and Medium starts or are purchased from Merchants that come to a Trading Post. A Farmer is needed to tend the Orchard and harvest the fruit. It takes 3-4 years for an Orchard to mature enough to produce fruit so it isn't a good food source early in the game. I find that I can create 9 x 19 (sometimes larger) Dense Orchards when using a Very Mild Climate and one Farmer can harvest all of the fruits before Winter. When you use a Very Harsh climate, you need to create smaller orchards and/or have another Farmer or two - especially during harvest time.
