My Tiny PlotRipening Peaches
This photo was taken last week.
And this photo was taken today! My eight peaches are busy ripening. And it hasn’t even been that sunny here. They’re still pretty hard though. Not even close to being ready, yet.
I’ve been tidying up the fan as it’s been growing – taking away any shoots that are growing inwards or outwards. But other than that I’ve just let it be. I’ll do some formative pruning once the leaves have dropped and I can see what I’m doing in there.
Anyone else growing Peaches in the UK (or elsewhere unlikely)?
That tree looks beautiful! The fan is almost perfect from where I’m looking. Lucky you :)
We considered growing peaches but wouldn’t have had a sunny enough spot to put them in, not that there’s not enough sun in our garden, far from it, but we don’t have much in the way of structures to shelter things against yet. We went with apples and plums instead.
Besides, I’ve always been more of a Nectarine girl ;)
I planted a maiden peach bought from reads in Norfolk against a south west wall in 2005. The first two years were hot and sunny and we had a feast of white peaches two years in. Hales Early is the variety. I won first prize in 2006 at out local show. The last three summers including this one have produced a poorer crop on what is now a large fan. We have just three giant peaches this year which I’ll pick any day now. One got itself squeezed between wires and wall. Peach trees produce best when young so prune with this in mind. Pick them before they get too ripe or drop. They bruise so easily so don’t squeeze to see if they are ripe. Finish ripening indoors. We had peach leaf curl one wet spring. Always loads of blossom but all kinds of things can go wrong between flower and fruit ! The old version of the RHS Fruit Garden Displayed has great instructions for pruning and maintenance.
We’ve got a fan style tree (which has oddly bushed out, but that’s probably lack of pruning) which is alreay dropping fruit – the peaches are large, still a bit hard but quite edible already.
Shouldn’t be much longer now!
Beautiful. I’ve never seen a tree against a wall like that. The smell of ripening peaches is unmistakable. I don’t have the space to grow peaches, but am visiting the many orchards here in central Connecticut….
That’s gorgeous! I didn’t even know it was possible to grow peaches in the UK! Have you checked out the Summer Fest on A Way to Garden’s blog (http://awaytogarden.com/)?? The theme this week is stone fruits and this beautiful tree of peaches would be a perfect contribution! Rosy x
That’s brilliant, and beautiful. I grow Asian pears as an espalier, but more traditional style (central trunk and sets of “arms” on either side)…the fan looks so easy. Thank you.
When I was growing up, we had an old railway carriage in our garden with a peach fan trained up the side. It was a complete sun trap – even little lizards used to come out and bathe there!
Have just started to eat peaches off my tree. This tree was planted in 2000 I think when I muddled up two trees and planted it where I meant to plant a cherry tree. We have had peach curl every year since then, but this year it produced fantastically pretty blossom and we now have about 30 peaches. It is just inside my garden, now protected by a tall hedge, but in completely the wrong place, however this year it is enjoying it and so are we!
hi Gill ,peaches look gorgeous if they are ripe bring a couple with youin August ta see you then