| Overview of Peaches |
| Kelly Givens shares a wealth of information on peaches and their cultivation. |
From "Fresh From the Orchard"
episode DFFO-106 |
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Kelly Givens shares tips to help you select the right peach tree for your garden; she also explains the difference between clingstone and freestone peaches and reveals what separates a peach from a nectarine (hint: it has to do with the skin of the fruit). After performing a simple test for soil drainage, she amends her clay soil and further improves its drainage by building a berm (a low mound or a small artificial hill). She then plants two peach trees, giving special tips on how to work with bare-root trees.
Peach trees are low, spreading trees that bear a multitude of fragrant pink blooms in the spring. Their size and beauty make them a good choice for many landscapes. They will grow in almost every state in the U.S., from Zone 4 through Zone 9. Nectarines are identical to peaches, except nectarines have smooth skin and a peach has fuzzy skin. Peaches and nectarines have exactly the same growing requirements. Technically, peaches are known as drupes. A drupe is simply a fruit that has a hard stone, or pit, in the middle. Peaches are classified according to how well the flesh falls away from the pit; the two basic types are freestone and clingstone. In freestone peaches, the fruit separates easily from the pit. Freestone peaches are extra juicy and are delicious for eating raw. In fact, chances are that every fresh peach you've purchased from a grocery or from a roadside stand was a freestone. In clingstone peaches, the flesh is more fibrous, so it clings to the pit and must be carved away with a knife. Clingstone peaches are excellent for canning; nearly all commercially canned peaches are clingstones. Home gardeners who want peaches both for eating fresh and for canning can grow both types. Cultural Requirements
To have a long and fruitful life, peaches need to be planted in the right spot. They need lots of sun and a soil pH between 6.0 and 7.0. Morning sun is particularly important because it dries the dew off the leaves, and dry leaves are less prone to disease than are wet leaves. They also need well-drained soil. Peaches planted in poorly drained soil rarely live more than five years, whereas peaches planted in well-drained soils can live 10 to 15 years.As for soil drainage, you can use a simple test to see whether your soil is adequately drained. Dig a hole 18" deep and as wide as a shovel and fill the hole with water. Let the water drain out, then fill the hole with water once again (figure A). This time, check on the hole every few hours. If the water drains out in less than three hours, the soil drains too rapidly. If it drains in four to six hours, the soil's drainage is perfect. If you have claylike soil and need to improve the drainage, you can add organic matter to the soil and/or build up a on which berm to plant your peach tree. To amend your soil, add a 3"-thick layer of soil conditioner made of ground-up pine bark (figure B). Work it into the soil in with your shovel, digging it 18" deep. Organic amendments like this are magic for the soil. They make heavy soils drain better, and they improve the texture of sandy soils too.
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