The Peach Post

"I ate a peach fresh from my third floor balcony!" - Allison

You go outside, and you can smell them. They smell sweet, fragrant. Just lovely. They are ready to harvest when the top part of the peach around the stem is soft. I had read this recently from "Backyard Fruits and Berries; Everything You Need to Know About Planting and Growing Fruits and Berries in Your Own Backyard" by Miranda Smith (a book I have really found useful), and told this to a friend who had come by to visit.

"Well, this one feels soft to me," she said. She pointed to a peach I had been eyeing for days for it's particularly beautiful red coloring.

"Wow, you're right. Hey, do you want to eat a peach? Like right now?"

"Sure!"

I picked it. It came off easily. What a lovely peach. It had a particularly deep and beautiful red blush on the side where the sun had hit it day after day for the past several months. I took a knife, and slowly cut it open. The flesh was so soft it practically fell off the peach as the knife cut it. We each picked up slice, and took a bite.

"Wow," we both said at once, eyes widening.

I counted around 41 peaches of various sizes on our tree. The first one we picked weighed 73 grams. Putting our weight up past 13 pounds! Since then we have had 4 more peaches, and they have all been excellent. The only bugs we have really had any problems with have been spider mites which have gotten on some of the peach tree's leaves and turned a few of them slightly yellow. So far all the fruits have been perfect, if not a little smaller than most peaches you might find in the store. But believe me, they make up for size with taste!

Last night we had a peach (as well as 3 strawberries and two blueberries! from the garden) with some rice pudding. I got some giant sunflowers from the farmer's market, and we got a picture of the fresh fruit and the flowers.
I really am enjoying peach season on the balcony.