Recently my sister, mother and I took a stroll through our orchard. We went to check on our apple trees. We’d noticed a wild apple tree losing its leaves and wanted to see if the same was happening in the orchard.
Inspecting our apples, we noticed … peaches. I was very confused. My parents had planted peach trees, but I didn’t think they were in this part of the orchard.
In fact, I’d previously assumed this tree to be a wild cherry; there are lots of wild cherries growing nearby, and I didn’t look too closely at the tree in question.
Continuing our stroll, we found another peach tree. This time I had assumed it was a plum, growing right next to another plum tree and in spring I saw the two bloom together.
On closer inspection, my memory proved correct — a plum tree was growing together with the peach, although it was a much smaller tree.
Each of these trees had only a few peaches on them, but they were large and almost ripe.
In the past I’ve missed harvests thinking fruits or nuts would take longer to ripen than they did. Determined not to miss the peaches, I have checked them every day.
Last week I found one fallen to the ground. Slightly bruised, it still tasted amazing. I love peaches, and this one was perfect. It had a tart zing, which I really enjoyed.
The next day I checked again. This time I noticed that one of the peaches had been munched on while still hanging on the branch. I decided to pick it, so whatever critter had started wouldn’t come back to finish its meal.
It was a bit high for me to reach, and while trying to get it down, I knocked another off. This one also had some animal damage, but much less.
When I got them both down and inspected, my guess is that a bird enjoyed some of the tasty fruit. I feel bad not sharing with the birds, but I called dibs on these peaches.
The day after, I marched out with my picker, and plucked 10 perfect peaches from two of the three trees. They were still firm — not totally ripe, but I didn’t want to risk more losses.
Now that I know we have peach trees, I will try to nurture them into producing more than a dozen peaches per season.
I started by reading a little about this tree. Native to China and spreading westward via Persia, peaches have a long history of human cultivation and symbolism in Asian and Mediterranean culture.
They are also a healthy option — packed with vitamins. There are over 2,000 varieties of peaches, according to the Utah State University extension service website.
I read that peach blooms are particularly susceptible to killing frosts and I imagine this is why we haven’t seen fruit on these trees before.
My guess is that these trees self seeded — either from others in our orchard or from Romney peach pits left in the compost pile and moved around by some critter.
In looking up how to care for peaches, I learned that pruning is especially important, because fruit sets only on the previous year’s growth.
Fertilizing these trees is also important, and I have big plans for spreading chicken manure around them next spring.
Maybe with a little extra love and attention, these random trees will produce the one to six bushels of peaches I read they are capable of.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County. Email columns@dominionpost.com
