I know that 2019 is meant to be the Year of the Pig in Chinese terms, but here at Struan Farm and in the wider King Country it's the "Year of the Peach." Everyone has had bumper crops of peaches, perhaps because of the wet spring followed by a very dry summer.
Our Golden Queen tree has provided hundreds of beautiful fruit this year. We've been eating them for breakfast, making sorbet and delicious peach ice cream for the freezer. I've had to stop John from eating it every night for dessert!
Golden Queen is actually the last of our stone fruit varieties to fruit. Our "Black Boy" and "Karen J's Piopio Peach" were done and pruned weeks ago. While I don't use any chemical sprays on fruit or veggies, and operate as organically as possible, given our wet climate all of the peach and nectarine trees get sprays of copper to help with fungus/brown rot and leaf curl. "June's Northland Nectarine" had a problem with brown rot this summer so we've been careful to remove all mummified fruit and fallen foliage from the tree when we pruned to try to help it on that score next season. Yes, good hygiene is important for us but also for fruit trees too! Next comes the sheep manure, stone fruit loves it.
Comments