TODAY IN THE ORCHARD

Propping up peach branch with forked stick, Super Chilly Farm.

Peach Season is approaching fast! Today we collected a half bushel of Red Haven peaches off the ground. One branch of our oldest Red Haven tree broke off under the weight of the fruit. We thin the young fruit but never as much as we probably should. We also put “Y-shaped” forked sticks under the bearing branches to prop them up. That can help a lot. Many of the peach drops are still firm (or hard), but some are soft to the touch and are making excellent smoothies. If all goes well, we’ll be swamped with peaches within the next week or so.
In the not-so-good news department, fire blight is still here and we’ll be doing another pruning in the next few days.