Is your peach tree well established, or a young tree (less than 3 years old)? I believe peaches are cold hardy, but I don't know to what temperature. We don't have peaches, and I don't know if my husband has them on our master plan for the orchard. Although they have some varieties that do well in the Houston/southeast Texas area, I don't think they are very long-lived in our area. Also high maintenance because they need a lot of pruning. The peaches will only grow on the new growth, so extensive pruning is done to stimulate that new growth.
http://www.urbanharvest.org/advice/fruitgardening/fruitvarieties/peaches.html
The mayhaws are fully loaded with blooms and the pears have some blooms. I don't worry about the freezes for our mature trees, especially if it is just a light freeze. I don't ever recall a problem with the freezes hurting them. Our citrus and many others in our fledgling orchard are too young to withstand the cold temps, though, so we do frost protection on the bananas, dragon fruit, citrus (this is the last year we have to worry about it, I think), avocado, pomegranates, etc.
We don't have blueberries yet, but they do grow well here.
http://www.urbanharvest.org/advice/fruitgardening/fruitvarieties/blueberries.html
Blackberries
http://www.urbanharvest.org/advice/fruitgardening/blackberries.html
I disagree with him on his opinion of dewberries. Ours grow wild along the fence, but we mow up close and don't have a problem with them spreding. Yes they are small...much smaller than blackberries, but they are sweeter and the seeds much smaller.
Strawberries...if you plant your strawberries in the gutter idea, I think they would dry out too much and be difficult to keep watered, but it sure would make them easier to pick! Let us know how it works.
I don't have any connection to Urban Harvest in Houston, but we have gained a lot of knowledge from their website and publications. We have bought most of our fruit trees at their annual fruit tree sale. They also sell a book that we use extensively:
Year Round Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers for metro Houston: A natural Organic Approach Using Ecology, by Bob Randall, PhD.
One tip to protect plants from freezes here is to water them well before the anticipated freeze.
Another tip about protecting tender fruit trees from freezes: Mulch the plants well, but pull the mulch AWAY from the ground directly around the trunk to allow the ground warmth to help keep the tree from freezing. We also place 5 gallon buckets full of water next to each tree. That also helps warm the area surrounding the tree. I can't explain the science around it, but that's sort of how it got explained to me. For you folks in other parts of the country, keep in mind that southeast Texas has mild to moderate winters and freezes usually aren't hard and usually don't last long.
Hope this helps?
Jill
