We planted this peach tree about four years ago, but this is the first year that the fruit’s been worth anything. I have to admit I’ve been an agri-poseur of the highest order when it came to this peach tree. Contrary to my normal habits, I did zero research on the tree variety; I picked up a cheap little sapling from Lowe’s. I’ve failed to study how to properly care for the tree, I’ve never fertilized it, nor have I ever taken any pest-prevention measures. This is so not me. Maybe this post will shame me into being a better orchard-keeper, but it seems unlikely.
All the same, the tree has more or less thrived under my benign neglect. It did lose a big branch a few weeks ago when it broke under the weight of growing peaches, so I picked immature fruit off the other branches in hopes of preserving them. Today we picked a large basketful of peaches that are close to ripe, and I figure I have about a week before I have to do something with them… or else.
A disappointing number of our peaches looked like this:
I’m not sure if these bite marks are from squirrels or birds, but either way, they are scoundrels. Seriously, you just ate a few bites, critter? So wasteful. Maybe this will shame me into researching pest prevention.
These are too small for eating out of hand, so I plan to make my first batches of homemade jam. I’m thinking… sriracha peach jam? I’d start with a basic recipe like the one here and add just a little bit of Thai chili sauce or sriracha. We shall see. I may just do straight up jam, since I’ve never made any at all.
But if I do make some spicy peach jam, I have some labels at the ready:
4 Comments
The tree looks wonderful! Love the Sriracha-Peach Jam idea.
One neighbor has peach trees here, and they drape a huge net over it to keep birds away.
Do you have other fruit trees? It’s a topic discussed almost daily here. Apples or peaches or pears? Can’t decide.
Richard actually woke up this morning saying we should put a net on the tree, ha!
How are your neighbor’s peaches? Do they do well there?
If apples did better here, I might have picked an apple tree instead. I like that you have a longer window of time to use the apples, and they’re a little more versatile than peaches. The decision to plant a peach tree was largely informed by the fact that there was a tree that dropped peaches in the alley where I walked to school every day, and my mom made some killer cobblers with the ones I’d bring home. I figured if a peach tree did well 15 miles from here, it would probably be okay in my garden.
They do very well. I think that if you have multiple trees they do best as they can cross pollenate. Perhaps your tree needs a sibling? But I dunno…from the look of those pics, it’s growing beautifully!
Oh, I think I did read on the label when I purchased it that it didn’t need another tree to cross-pollinate. And certainly this tree is completely sloppy looking with peaches.
I forgot to mention that we also have a fig tree and a pecan tree, but the fig is planted in shade and the fruit never ripens. The pecan does not put out a lot of nuts, but supposedly it doesn’t start producing for something like 6 years, and we just hit that mark recently.