It’s that time of year again… peach season! We have been harvesting Florida Prince peaches for the past couple weeks. We are very happy with this variety of peach tree. It produces delicious semi-cling fruit with dark orange flesh. The white flesh Babcock peaches are still growing, and they should be ready in a few weeks. Our one Katy apricot tree has been very prolific this year so we are considering planting a few more in the fall. It is currently producing an abundance of sweet, fragrant fruit.
If you’re thinking about planting a fruit tree or have some of your own, please remember these key elements for producing lots of yummy fruit:
- Light exposure is the source of energy for your crop. Make sure your trees are pruned well to allow plenty of sunshine onto bearing wood so it can produce vigorous fruit.
- Infrequent deep watering is preferred to frequent shallow watering.
- Protect the mature fruit from birds and other critters! Deer netting and scarecrows work well.
- Read these great tips from the folks at the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.
Even if you don’t have a fruit tree in your yard, you can still enjoy freshly picked peaches! There are several places throughout Arizona with you-pick orchards. After you pick your peaches (and resist the temptation to eat them all immediately), try out some of our favorite peach recipes:
Peach Jam
I use this recipe to make peach and apricot jam. I follow the directions exactly, and it always turns out perfect!
Peach Pound Cake
This cake has a delicious flavor and would be great topped with some peach sorbet (see below)!
Easy Peach Sorbet
Perfect on a hot summer day!
If you have too many peaches to use up or if you’d like to preserve some for later, you can always freeze them. Just peel and slice them, fill up a Ziploc bag, and put them in the freezer. It’s really easy, and you can enjoy them all year long!
