My Tiny PlotTraining Peach Branches
Peaches are a lot of work – there’s no argument there. But sooooo worth it.
Now that my Peach tree has reached its full size and is covering most of the allotted space on the south-facing wall it’s time to start thinking about earmarking replacement branches for next year.
I know it sounds ridiculously early (since the poor thing has only just started to set fruit) but it’s essential work if you want some nice straight fruiting branches for next year.
Peaches fruit on last year’s wood (a little bit like Summer Raspberries) but this is unusual for large fruit trees. So much so that it takes a bit of planning.
Firstly, I nipped off all the leaf clusters that were pointing towards the wall. Since this is a fan-trained wall tree, anything pointing towards the wall is pretty useless to me (Peach-lets included).
Once I had done that I pin-pointed one leaf cluster at the base of each branch of the fan as the replacement branch for next year. Then I tied it in to the existing branch to make sure that it grows in the same direction as the branch that is there already – we don’t want any nasty snapping incidents come Autumn!
And that’s it. Each branch now has a replacement branch tied in, with maybe one in reserve too.
This blog is amazing! Just discovered it. Your pictures are great. Looking forward to more updates over the summer. I have just started on my gardening adventure (and I only have a balcony), and I’ve started a blog to follow my progress http://potplantpray.blogspot.com/
I’m sure I’ll get some tips from your blog!
Don’t you mean summer fruiting raspberries?! I hope so, otherwise I shan’t be getting any autumn raspberries after cutting all the canes back in February!
Hi Angie, Sorry yes I did mean that. I’ve edited the post. Good spot!
Lovely post, Gillian, you make it sound so simple but I suspect years of experience underpin your knowledge! Now, if only I had a peach tree … The veg patch in the flats runs North-West to South-East so I fear it doesn’t get enough sun for a peach tree but I’ve been asked to tend a tiny border outside a south facing flat so, perhaps, one day …. Where did you get your tree from? Any recommendations? And how much space did you allocate for it’s growth? Caro xx
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