The waning days of July usually bring a lot of Barbecues and family get-togethers. It’s the time the peaches start ripening and we get to share our own homegrown fresh fruit with our friends and family. It’s a race to use them because by mid August, they have mostly come and gone.
The year of Covid has put a damper on our gatherings, but the garden doesn’t care. It still cranks out produce and that is giving us a lot to do. Our pantry is getting full of jars of pickles, jam and dilly beans.
The peach tree was an impulse buy almost at Loen’s Nursery while we were looking for a hedge last year. The first season, it produced six or seven peaches and they were amazing. This year, the yield is many times that and they are just as tasty.
The tree is susceptible to leaf curl, I discovered this year. I used some copper antifungal last winter, but I missed the early spring application and we lost quite a few leaves. After a while, the infection faded and the fruit wasn’t affected. I also noticed that it is a good idea to thin the peaches so they aren’t too crowded.
Another thing that is new this year is that the peaches are showing signs of birds pecking at them… not that I blame them.
These are called frost peaches and they are a great all-around freestone peach. Shelly’s peach salsa is one of the best things of summer and these peaches get ripe just in time for that.
