What did you do in your orchard today?

[CrealCritter]

Granddaughter's got to split the first rich may tree ripe peach. I asked them to rate on a scale of 1 to 10. First bite they both said 10, with thumbs up. My younger granddaughter said it been a long time since I had a peach, so good and sweet. I said and you two are the first to eat a tree ripe peach this year.

Now they want to pick all the rich may peaches off the two trees, But the peaches need a couple more days on the tree to fully ripen. I'm going to run them through the kitchen aid, so FB can make preserves. Knowing her she'll probably also make jelly out of the skins and pits, also.

Rich may peach is one of the earliest to ripen. Medium to large sized, red skinned semi free stone, very sweet and juciy. Probably the reason why their claim to fame is for preserves.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

First peach tree harvested rich may (flavorich), I'll run through the food mill to be made into preserves and jelly. FB and I eat one out of hand this morning for breakfast. Medium to large sized, red skin, yello flesh, juicy, sweet and good tasting, FB said this is a good peach. I think it's a pretty good harvest for a 3 year old tree . Pretty clean also, I seen just one with a patch of scab and a few with bird peck.

Time to post harvest fertlize this tree, to get it ready for next year.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Mini Horses]

Those are beautiful!

 

[CrealCritter]

Those are beautiful!

Thanks, I'm just a self taught learner and am pleased with the results. I've discovered peaches need more nitrogen than apples and pears do. A bit of calcium nitrate pre bloom really made a differnce this year. It didn't take all that much either. https://southernag.com/product/calcium-nitrate/

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

FB is working on batch two. Then we have our peach jam and jelly put up for the year.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Mini Horses]

That's such a satisfying feeling! For me, at least, when I've put food away in season, for later.

Always loved to go into the cellars at grands and see the jars full. Was just a kid but, it was somehow pretty & satisfying to me even then. They hunted small game, raised chickens, a pig, etc. The need for food prep was started there. That was a time when they had no electric, wood stove cooking, outhouses & a big family to raise. Gardening by hand plow. A way of life.

 

[CrealCritter]

Montmorency graft seems like it appricates being a new tree. It gave me a thank you cherry.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

Swamp peaches, entirely to wet, not much I can do about it either. Other than supplement nitrogen. Mid season peaches coming out of their pit hardening stage, fleshing up, for ripening in July.

Apples
I had to support the branches on this golden delicious.

Row of grafted antique apple varieties in their second leaf (second growing season). Considering they were potted whips at the end of first leaf, I'm very happy with their growth so far. There's even a few apples on some of them. Which last year, I promised the neighbors boy he could have. Since he helped me plant some of the trees in this row.

Having all those weed in the cages is driving me crazy. But with all the rain we've had, I dare not weed and mulch. I like to think those weeds are suckling up some of the excess water.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

I would like a early mid season peach variety. Something that ripens inbetween rich may and red haven so we don't that a laspe in tree ripe peaches. I'm thinking about trying the harvester variety. Not much info out there on harvester. But it ripens about 10 to 15 days prior to red haven. Rich may ripens about 30 to 40 days prior to red haven.

Anyone have experice with harvester? Mainly curious about its taste.

Harvester Peach Tree | Fruit Trees | Ison's Nursery & Vineyard

The Harvester peach tree not only gives you excellent peaches, but also beautiful blooms of very fragrant flowers with pink and white blossoms.

www.isons.com

Early Ripening Peach Varieties

1. **Flordaking**
- **Ripening Time**: Early May (about 30-40 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium to large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to bacterial spot

2. **Rich May**
- **Ripening Time**: Early May (about 30-40 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium
- **Disease Resistance**: Moderate resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

3. **HARVESTER**
- **Ripening Time**: Early June (about 10-15 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

4. **BLAZE PRINCE**
- **Ripening Time**: Early June (about 10-15 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium to large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot

5. **SIERRA RICH**
- **Ripening Time**: Early June (about 10-15 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

6. **Springprince**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

7. **June Gold**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium to large
- **Disease Resistance**: Moderate resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

8. **Cary Mac**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot

9. **Ruby Prince**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium to large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

10. **Rio Grande**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot

11. **El Dorado**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium to large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

12. **Garnet Beauty**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot

13. **Dixie Red**
- **Ripening Time**: Early to mid-June (about 5-10 days before Redhaven)
- **Size**: Medium to large
- **Disease Resistance**: Good resistance to brown rot and bacterial spot

This list should help you choose the best early ripening peach varieties for your needs in Zone 7a.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

I wanted to give a quick review of rich may / flavor rich, one of the two earliest ripening peach varieties.

For being one of the earliest ripening peaches, it's very good for eating out of hand. The first bite brings back memories of summer. You might as well grab a napkin because otherwise you'll have juice running down your arm. It's a semi cling stone when tree ripe, with red and yellow streaked flesh, and juciy sweet as all get up. It's skin is thin and it does not contain a lot of fuzz. When tree ripe you can remove the skin with your fingers, no knife required.

Where this peach really shines is for jelly, it's extra juciy and juices like a dream. I would rate it excellent for jelly and a little less than excellent for preserves. It has so much natural sugar that very little sugar needs to be added to get low sugar pectin to set up properly.

The only down side to this peach is pit split. I would say more than 50% had split pits when I processed them. I've been told pit split is common for early ripening peach varieties. Pit split is not so much of a big deal for me because we hand process, but something to consider if you were going to mechanically process. It would be very hard to punch the pit out with a machine and would most likely shatter.

Dont believe me, watch the peach specialist, what a job this guy has!

Jesus is Lord and Christ