First Day Canning Peaches

Today was my first day canning peaches this year.  Last year I made 22 pints.  Today, 4.5 pints from my cling stone tree.  The ants have been horrible on the peaches this year.  Because of the droughty weather...?

 

Blackberries have also started to ripen up in the last week or so.  (from a few days ago)

 

Blackberries

Early last spring I planted two bare root blackberry bushes - Ouachita and Arapaho.  Both have done very well, but the Ouachita tends to aim more towards the ground and make new starts.

They have heavy buds and the first few blooms are starting to appear.

Below is the Ouachita.  It has started three new plants in the ground, and the cane below I rerouted into a pot since the dogs kept yanking it out of the ground.  I think you're actually supposed to do this in the fall, but spring is when I had the extra cane, so we'll see what happens.

My little helpers...

Peaches - YEA!

I am SO EXCITED - for the first time in several years I will have a peach crop!!!!!!!!!!  The last couple of years I have lost them to late freezes.  Amazingly - after all of this year's miserable winter weather - we finally avoided a late freeze, and now I can't wait for summer (although I am definitely enjoying the awesome spring we are having)!!

New tree...

Old tree...

And here's a picture of the wound healing on my older peach tree after this happened.

The first picture is from a tree I planted last February labeled 'Elberta', but I don't think that's what it is.  Either that or the one I originally planted was not an 'Elberta' because the new one bloomed a few weeks earlier.  Anyhow, I am excited to see how the fruit turns out because the peaches from the older tree melt in your mouth.

Strawberries

My strawberries are very happy, and I am so excited!!

 They are planted near my Bur Oak tree where they get dappled sunlight and protection from the blistering summer sun.

I planted them last year from starts purchased at Lowe's.  Last fall they made tons of babies which are easy to dig up and move or share with friends (which I did).  :)

The taller round-leaved plant you see towards the back is red clover from some cover crop I've used the last couple of years.  The strawberries and clover seem to make happy companions!

Summer Bummer!

I can't believe it!  After I just said yesterday how important proper pruning is so that you have a nice, strong branch structure on your fruit trees, I came home today and found this:

It split right down the middle.  The weight of all those peaches was just too much for my poor tree.  This is what I get for bragging, I guess.  I'm so bummed.  I guess you can have too much of a good thing.

My only consolation is that I've heard that my dear old dad was kind of a slum lord with his purple martin houses this year.  Oh, well...

Peaches

Peaches are about the only thing I got out of the garden last year, and it looks like it's going to be the same again this year unless I get a few late-season habaneros and tomatoes.

They're still a little green, but Sam and I ate a few tonight anyways.  They're tart with just a light sweetness.  If I can keep the ants off of them, they'll make for good eating soon!

(These are Elberta peaches, by the way.)

These two pictures show the branching structure of the tree (as well as how it looks like it's about to split in half from the weight of all the fruit!).  You want to prune fruit trees so that they have open centers with branches at wide angles which makes them nice and strong so they'll bear the weight of the fruit.

Take that, Dad - loads of peaches!

Spring is... (Charlie Sheen voice) SPRINGING!

Last year this tree produced the world's best peach like a freakin' rock star from Mars!

The spirea are starting to leaf out as well.  In a few weeks they're going to bloom like high priest Vatican assassin warlocks with flowers shooting from their fingertips - EPIC!

Vanhoutte spirea

Bridal Wreath spirea is a little further behind.

The Melt-In-Your-Mouth Peach

OKAY...  Debbi totally ragged on me tonight for not updating my blog lately, so...

My wonderful Elberta peach produced the most magnificent melt-in-your-mouth peach this year.  Yes, peach.  As in one.

In all fairness to the tree, it was only its second year.  They don't typically produce until they've been in the ground for a couple of years, and the first year was a pruning year.

Here it is!

The one peach was as big as my fist, it smelled like heaven, and it almost literally melted in my mouth.  Wonderful!  I can't wait to have have a big bunch of peaches next year - a homegrown peach really is fantastic.  Please, plant one today.  You'll be glad you did!

There, Deb...

Elberta Peach Tree Blooms

3/28/2010

These are pictures of my Elberta peach tree.  Peaches only bloom on one-year-old wood, so this is the first time it's flowered (I just planted it last winter). 

According to the Aggie Horticulture website, peaches should be thinned out around four to six weeks after they bloom, so that will be around May 1-15 for me.

The Elberta peach requires around 800 to 850 chilling hours which is considered a high chilling requirement and suitable for our area.  Here is a map showing average chilling hours around Texas.

Here is the bud progression over the last several weeks.

2/27/2010

3/6/2010

3/21/2010

3/25/2010

3/25/2010

3/28/2010

And lastly, here's a picture of Bobette... giving you the cat's eye....