Millions of Peaches

This blog is a bit post-harvest as “The Peaches” have now finished for the season but I thought it might be interesting to include some photos here and a short item. When the peach trees are in blossom, in early September, the orchard is a picture in pink, although the windy weather and even occasional snow fall that we can get at the same time has a devastating impact on the fragile flowers.
When we bought “The Laurels” 14 years ago it had quite a few peach trees – about 200 in all and most of the peaches ripened during the school holidays (late December/January) so it timed in nicely with when we were all around and able to pick, pack, sell and process.
Since then, the trees have aged (and so have we!) and now there are only a handful of the original peach trees left. We planted another 100 or so varieties to test them for suitability but the soil on the new site was not ideal for peaches and the wildlife (wombats, wallabies and rabbits) took more than a passing interest in the new plantings. Although some of the new peach trees have flourished, others have failed to thrive and some have ultimately perished. One variety that does well is the Fragar. This is a white-fleshed peach that tastes divine, like a Nectarine but with the characteristic fuzzy stubble of a peach.
We have yet to harvest enough of the new varieties to be able to sell them but they are a welcome addition to our annual bottling frenzy.
This year our peach preserves featured Plain Peaches, Peach and Ginger Jam, Peach and Blueberry Jam, Brandied Peaches, Peach Snapps and Peach and Kiwi Chutney. After the peaches were finished, we started processing the plums and then came the blueberries and the grapes and now the apples, kiwi fruit, medlars, persimmons and quinces are waiting in the wings.
We have been germinating seeds and taking cuttings and grafts of some of our successful fruit trees and will be eventually adding them to the nursery catalogue. At the moment there are a number of pots of Calamondin and Cape Gooseberries freshly germinating from seed. Some Apples, Blueberries, Plums, Peaches, Kiwi fruit, Currants and Quinces are coming on nicely but are still too young to sell.
We have had folk asking when the next plant sale will be on, so we are tentatively planning for an Autumn plant sale some time in April. I have propagated some new plants, like Stevia, Arthritis Plant and Mushroom Plant that were not available previously plus the Sages like Bethel, Bog, Pineapple and Fruit Salad are in full flower now and looking very colourful. More on plants to be offered for an Autumn plant sale in the next blog.