Peach season has finally come! They've been turning up at farmer's markets, but ours were a bit slower to ripen this year.
Our little peach tree was planted two years ago, along with an apricot and a plum nearby. We created a "plant guild" around it, consisting of supportive plants such as artichokes for continual mulching, nasturtiums as a soil fumigator, strawberries and allysum for shading the soil/water retention, and beans for fixing nitrogen. Using these and a few other basic permaculture guidelines, the first year showed rapid growth for our stone fruit trees.
My favorite resource for permaculture is Toby Hemenway's book, Gaia's Garden, which is now out in second edition!
Sadly, winter came, dogs dug and grass moved in, and the guilds slowly gave up and all became mulch. They did a great job for the year they were most active, though, and their benefit meant that when our trees were one year old, we had fruit! This is the second year we've harvested and look at these babies! We're pretty proud.
They're white peaches, so they're very sweet and soft (but not mushy!) when ripe.
And the shadow side of organic home farming...
Gross japanese beetles! Which divebomb my ears and head while I'm trying to pick! I've had to pick some peaches early, and invite my friends & family to rush over and do the same. Now that the fruit is ripe, the ne'er-do-wells have arrived! I don't mind sharing a bit of the harvest with the natural evolution of creatures, but these dudes are big, loud and fast and they cause me to run screaming and slapping myself.
I'm going to get back to that day off....:)
