Peaches: Celebrating Summer's Bounty with Urban Farmer Angela Price

Tuesday

Jul192011

by Angela Price

I am sitting on my back patio watching the hens peck around the yard. Daisy, the alpha hen, lowers herself to the ground and gracefully stretches out a wing to take advantage of the sun near the peach tree I planted a few years back. Hens understand summer, I think. We are so lucky to have this weather in Southern California. Summer is a time for growing and harvesting, for slicing juicy tomatoes and picking the perfect peach. The squirrels ate most of my peaches this summer, so I am forced to rely on the farmer’s market and the bi-weekly box of produce from the CSA. I am so excited when the box arrives at the front door. I always wait a few minutes before I open it; it’s like a special gift. Inside the box, past the lettuce and the cucumbers and an overly fragrant cantaloupe, I see them: 5 peaches! They have the most beautiful color, orange and red and yellow, like little round sunsets. The cantaloupe wants to compete for the attention. I am not terribly fond of them, so I exile it to the refrigerator. Unfortunately, these peaches are not perfect. The best peaches should be eaten out of hand with the sweet juice running down your chin and forearm. These peaches are a little bit hard with only a faint scent of stone fruit.

Suddenly I want peach pie. There is something about sugar and cinnamon and buttery pastry and heat together with the fruit that can lift it from its mediocrity. Fruit pie is also summer to me, so I make the pie and throw the last blueberries from my garden in with the peaches. I manage to pay enough attention to the pie while it’s baking, so the crust doesn’t burn. Friends come over to share dinner with my husband, two boys and me. We crowd around the little table on the back patio and laugh and eat. And for dessert, there is peach pie.

Planting a peach or nectarine tree doesn’t require a ton of work, only patience. Fruit trees tend to ‘magically’ appear in my yard in the same way that new shoes appear in my closet. My husband will notice that there is something different, but can’t quite put his finger on what it is. Peach trees will generally start to produce fruit when they are 3 or 4 years old. They do require a certain number of “chill hours” (hours where winter temperatures are at or below 45 degrees Fahrenheit) in order to produce fruit. Most Southern California nurseries and garden centers will carry “low chill” varieties for our climate. Also, determine how big a tree you want. My semi-dwarf peach, which is about 5 years old, is already 10’ tall. I also have a dwarf nectarine (whose fruit the squirrels have not found yet), which will probably grow to about 5’ tall. Beside the chill requirements, peaches and nectarines need soil with good drainage, regular fertilizing, occasional pruning and regular watering during fruit production. A little care, and you will be rewarded!

Angela Price is a recovering human resources executive, urban farmer, hen keeper and owner of Eden Condensed, small space garden design. She lives in Valley Village, CA with her (very) tolerant husband, two amazing boys, four cats and 5 chickens. Angela can be reached at angela@edencondensed.com

Comments Off | |

Email Article