Oh Henry!

O'Henry peach performed exceptionally this year.  The freezer is well stocked with loads of peach slices to enjoy in pies and cobblers during cooler months to remind us of the hellish summer we endured ending with this reward.  Dave Wilson Nursery  provides this description:

A favorite fresh market yellow freestone - renowned for its firm texture, rich flavor and consistently high quality.  Large fruit ripen about two weeks after Elberta.  Skin mostly red, yellow flesh heavily streaked with red when fully ripe.  Strong, vigorous, heavy bearing tree.  Large, showy pink blossoms.  Highly recommended for home orchards. 

For easy care and harvest the tree may be kept under 10 feet high by summer pruning.

Winter chilling requirement:  Bout 700 hours below 45 degrees.  Self-fruitful.

Originated in Red Bluff, California.  Introduced in 1968.

Dates for harvest seasons vary with climate and year.  Dates are approximate for Modesto, CA. 

8-10 to 9-5. 

For my garden in Bakersfield, CA., the harvest dates are about the same.

Sadly, O'Henry looks to have borers.  Local nursery specialists advise that it is terminal; but there should be many years of peach production ahead.

Peaches!

O'Henry peaches are on the menu for fresh, local (my backyard) fruit.  There are blemishes, but it's the price you pay to have tasty peaches at your fingertips and taste buds.  Bird netting was draped over the tree as the fruit started to blush.  It's not tied down and blows in the Sahara-like breeze.  Sorry birds. You lose.  There are some blemishes; but that's the price you pay for delicious, nutritious fruit.

O'Henry Peach

This espalier tree got away from me last summer as I wanted to have a canopy to shade the trunk and avoid scald.  Pruning was very light last summer.  Fruit develops on the growth of the previous summer; so I only pruned lightly to encourage fruit development.  Now I have all this growth and can't decide how to handle the growth.

Leave it and enjoy the fruit. Prune it and enjoy the look. Hmmm. Now that I have those options before me the answer seems pretty obvious.

With this historic drought, has anyone adjusted fertilization along with irrigation?  I've heard both arguments -  Fertilize less to reduce production that need irrigation.  Fertilize well to support stressed vegetation.  I heard the second argument on a radio ad for ag fertilizer so...

Garden Progress in April

 Here's what's going on in the garden after some nice rain before we head into a scorcher of a week.
Several lavender plants are drawing various pollinators into the garden - hummingbirds, bubble bees, bees, and butterflies.

Lavender

The plum tree is alive.  I thought it had been lost after it bloomed in the fall and produced leaves into the winter.  Those leaves looked awful and sad; but it bloomed this spring and produced some fruit.  Most of that fruit has fallen though.

Santa Rosa Plum

The peach tree got away from my pruning shears last year.  Once the fruit has been harvested in a few months, I'll work on slowly trimming it down to a manageable espalier.

O'Henry Peach

Good ol' Granny Smith looks like it is thriving and will provide plenty of apples at the end of the summer.  This tree had some problems with scalding a few years ago.

Granny Smith Apple
 

The Red Flame grapes were pruned a bit today by Farmer MacGregor.  He took down an unfilled Scrub Jay nest that distressed those nest builders.

Red Flame Grapes

The Warren pear tree never bloomed (AGAIN!) and the Fantasia Nectarine lost all of its fruit.  The Bleinheim apricot has had a few prunings so far this spring.  The fruit has a bit of cosmetic damage from the sun and wind.  Hopefully, it won't do a thing to the flavor.

Bleinheim Apricot

A few peas have started to develop.  I'm surprised since the heat came early.  Maybe I'll get a few to sample.

Wando Peas

Celebrity tomatoes have produced well in the past even though there is a nematode problem.  This year is no exception.  There is hope of homemade salsa.

Celebrity Tomato

Thornless boysenberries were covered with netting today to fight off the pesky birds.  This season may not be as bountiful as last.  If so, I'll blame it on my pruning.

Thornless Boysenberries

Serrano peppers are great stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon.  They are also my pepper of choice for making salsa.

Serrano Peppers

Most of the irrigation is only twice during the week.  Basins are filled from the hose.  This method may encourage the roots to push deeper into the soil and not dry out as fast.  I may be wrong since so many encourage drip irrigation.  We'll see.

Garden Update

Just a quick notation of Spring progress in the garden.

The Pink Lemonade Sunshine Blue blueberries are developing nicely.  These are in a pot so it's much easier to keep the soil acidic.  Netting to combat those thieving birds needs to be put in place this weekend.

Thornless boysenberries (6 plants) are producing well.  Once the petals have matured a bit more, bird netting will be installed here as well.  It's a lot more difficult than with the blueberries.

O'Henry blossoms have faded giving way to developing peaches.  This summer I will try to correct some pruning neglect from last year.  More on that in a later post.

Granny Smith apples are coming along beautifully.  I don't thin out the fruit.  Nature will drop the weak ones in most all cases.

Celebrity tomatoes (6) all have multiple blossoms and are thriving amongst the onions.  I suspect that when the heat turns up this week (95 by Wednesday), these plants will be going bonkers.  In the meantime, I'm loving this cool, overcast Saturday.

I picked up a little lavender plant that needs to be potted. It's already developed buds.  No doubt it will enjoy the heat next week and be in full bloom.

That's a quick peek at what's going on in the garden.

Air Conditioning - Best Invention Ever!

Mid July is about the time of summer that I have had my share of swamp pants and am ready for the coolnees of fall; but that ain't happening.  So I am thankful that we are not barbarians here in Bakersfield, California, and know precisely how to operate an air conditioner - thus reducing the much dreaded "swamp pants" incidences to a minimum.

Not many enjoy July heat; but some in the garden are flourishing:

O'Henry peach

The peach tree is really doing well this summer.  Several summers back it was scalded by the sun.  I thought it would need to be replaced; but wrapping the trunk last summer helped.  (The apple tree continues to need summer wrap.)  Now with no wrap, the peach tree is making a nice canopy of shade and some lovely peaches.

 

Cantaloupe

With the house in an upheaval due to remodeling in the kitchen, I have lost my notes on what variety of cantaloupes were planted in early May.  Three hills were planted.  Only a few seeds sprouted.  Those sprouts remained stunted at only 1 - 1.5 inches tall until the serious heat hit in July.  Then...BLAMO!  I suspect planting so early for whatever variety this is does not work best.  I need to remember to plant around Memorial Day in the future.

Gold Currant Tomato Volunteer

Gold Currant grape-sized tomatoes thrive in the garden.  Volunteers sprout everywhere and are constantly eliminated.  A few survive to provide bite sized snacks that my mother devours like candy.  These also make excellent fresh salsa.  I have a few lame peppers and onions in the garden that I may experiment to try to create a small amount of salsa on my kitchen table/ desk/catchall.

But for now, I'm inside running the air conditioner.

Orchard Update



 The garden orchard isn't big at all.  All the deciduous trees are espalier pruned to shadow the garden fence line.  (The citrus grow on the opposite side of that fence line with the raised beds on the same side as the espalier trees.  All these trees were planted in January 2009 as bare root babies.

Warren Pear

The Warren pear has refused to bloom. This is the 4th year in the garden without so much of a hint of a bud.  The leaves are beautiful, glossy, and green.  In fact, the pear tree is known as the diva of the garden.  It really is a great tree to form an espalier.

Granny Smith Apple

Old Granny Smith was thought to be a gonner due to sun scald.  Using tree wrap saved it and now the tree is producing nice fruit.  This spring, there is an abundance of blossoms - the most in it's short life.  This is the last tree to bloom in spring and the last fruit to ripen at the end of summer.

O'Henry Peach
 

O'Henry had a bad case of sun scald like the apple tree.  The tree wrap did a great job.  Last summer I concentrated on developing a nice canopy to naturally shade the limbs.  This year, wrap will be applied to any tree that needs it.  And, this peach tree is blooming like made so there is hope for a good crop of fruit.

Fantasia Nectarine

Last year, the nectarine had to be replaced.  Same variety - better production.  The previous tree had rare blooms and when it was removed there were no roots.  None.  This fantasia has about 15 blooms this spring; but something is nibbling on them.  Ants?

Santa Rosa Plum

Fruit is already forming on the plum tree.  There are an estimated 5 billion blossoms on the tree this spring.  That's a very rough estimate.  I'm hopeful to be able to make plum jelly this summer.  Santa Rosa was the 1st to bloom; but it's not the mightiest producer.  No sir.

Blenheim Apricot

Even though the apricot had to undergo some major surgery recently, that did not stop the fruit production.  This tree is the 2nd to bloom but is surging ahead as far as production is concerned. Dried apricots are my favorites.  I'm hopeful.

Tree Trimming

O'Henry Peach

Some of the fruit trees have finally lost their leaves. I understand that waiting to prune after all the leaves have dropped allows the leaves to provide nourishment to the tree.  Am I right?  Today, I wondered out to do a little clean up pruning on the peach tree. This tree did surprisingly well this year.  The trunk had suffered sun scald and I thought it might need to be replaced.  Wrapping the trunk this summer helped to protect the exposed trunk and some branches allowing more growth to flourish and help shade those wrapped parts.  I only removed branches/twigs that were crossing, dead wood, and branches that might cause a problem. 

Debris needs to be removed from around the trunk; but other than that, it's ready for an application of dormant oil.

Only one other tree has dropped its leaves.  The new, replacement Fantasia Nectarine.  It's still a squirt and needs no pruning.  Just a little rake around the base and this little lady is ready for a shower.

Fantasia Nectarine

Garden Update:
Farmer MacGregor tackled the removal of Gold Currant Tomatoes yesterday.  These volunteers grew in a bed dedicated to the eradication of  Root Knot Nematodes.  Earlier in the summer, French Marigolds were planted. I read that this variety of marigold repelled these pests.  JUNK!  The knots on the roots of the tomatoes were gross.  We have decided this summer will be the summer to cover all the vegetable beds with black plastic and bake those buggers.  I have one pot reserved for a tomato plant and that's it.

I had also read that nematodes don't like mustard; so I planted 4 varieties this fall.  The mustard bed is thriving.  Asparagus is growing in this bed as well.  Don't know what to do with the asparagus when the black plastic is draped over this bed.  Suggestions?


Southern Giant Curled Mustard

Peach Gnocchi

O'Henry Peach

Mid to late August seems to be the best time for ripe O'Henry peaches in the garden.  This year, the tree has thrived by producing many more branches and leaves to provide more shade.  Fruit production was as abundant; but that's okay.  Getting this espalier tree growing strong and healthy is priority.  The peaches that did make it to maturity are very large, sweet and tasty.  Bird netting wraps the lateral branches to the frustration of the birds.  Fruit production from this tree isn't enough yet to bake a cobbler; so satisfaction with a fresh peach every once in awhile will have to do.

As the tree matures and production increases, I would like to try an unusual recipe for peach gnocchi.  I enjoy gnocchi and that recipe from 101 Cookbooks looks interesting.  Keeping the link here will serve as a reference for when there are so many peaches in the summer garden that a new recipe can be tried.  In the meantime, I would be interested to know reviews since the recipe is a little labor intensive.

PS...the recipe calls for champagne.  Don't know why white wine couldn't be used instead.

Patience is a Peachy Virtue

January 2009 - A line of fruit trees was planted along the garden fence with hopes of a small espalier orchard.  For the most part, the undertaking has been successful.  Some trees thrived more than others.  The first nectarine tree was pulled out in early 2012 and replaced.  It's replacement is thriving.  Another tree that was planted in shaky ground was the O'Henry Peach.  Growth was only evident at the ends of the limbs and not very robust.

O'Henry Peach - July 21, 2010

Even though it produced a few peaches, it was pretty measly.  When starting a young fruit tree, fruit should be plucked to encourage plant growth rather than fruit production.  I can't do that and that's one of my weaknesses.  Soil was amended and fertilizer was applied along with essential irrigation to ensure a healthy tree.  All the trees receive at least 3 applications of dormant spray during the winter too.  Still, it was kinda measly.  The trunk appeared to be damaged from sunburn/sun scald.  In 2011, Tommy Bahama umbrellas were erected for protection from the Bakersfield baking sun.  But early in 2012, while cruising the isles of Lowe's, I spotted some tree wrap in the discount bin for only $1 a roll.  Rather than use the umbrellas in 2012, the trunks of the peach and apple trees were wrapped (loosely) with the new find.  Note:  umbrellas don't work so well if an occasional wind picks up.  The umbrellas could end up folded inside out and in the vegetable beds.

O'Henry Peach - July 21, 2012

The results are great.  Even though the juvenile peach continues to cast off fruit it can't hold, there are a few monsters on those well shaded limbs.  The apple tree is also sporting positive results this summer. 

Time was on my side.  Yes it was.

Peaches Take 3rd Place

Today, the peaches (O’Henry) opened their buds.  Peaches follow plums and apricots.  The conciliation prize will, most likely, go to the apple (Granny Smith) tree.  The Warren Pear tree has never bloomed.  This year looks like a repeat performance.  The Fantasia Nectarine looks pretty puny.  If old Fantasia doesn’t get its act together, it is in extreme danger of being replaced.

Tootie Fruitie

Fruit in the garden comes in waves.  Boysenberries, apricots, and plums ripen earliest.  Those are all finished for the summer.  Strawberries sustain me until the next wave ripens.  Watermelons, grapes, peaches, and apples are in various states of maturity.

This could be one of two varieties planted – Malali or Sugar Baby.  Malali was planted first; but the pill bugs were getting the better of the sprouts.  Sugar Babies were planted with hopes of filling in wherever Malali failed.  Currently, there is an aphid problem.  The leaves are blasted each morning and that seems to be bringing in more ladybugs to do their thing.  It looks like I have made a friend with a pesky fly.  Geez, I need to file my nails.The grape arbor is bustin’ with loads of Red Flame grapes this summer.  The bunches are in various stages of “redness”.  There was an initial problem of having mourning doves nesting on the top of the arbor; but once the first birds flew the nest the scare tape has helped to keep all other birds away.O’Henry peaches are due to mature sometime in August.  There were many more earlier this season; but the tree has naturally thinned itself down to the size of crop it can hold.  These really are tasty peaches.Granny Smith apples should be ready after the peaches are done.  The tag from Dave Wilson lists maturity “very late” in October or November but our local nurseryman said that we should have harvested in August.  This one will be played by ear (mouth).

There’s citrus to look forward to during the winter – lemons, oranges, and grapefruit.  The mandarin lost all of its fruit for this season.

I know tomatoes are fruit; but like most people, I think of them as a vegetable so they’ll be featured separately.

Espalier Growth

Most the fruit trees in the garden are espalier trained.  Sorry if the word “espalier” is misused.  Though the trees grow two dimensionally  along the XY axes sometimes they need to get their Z  clipped too.    Since the weather has been so incredibly tolerable, gardeners are out in force to doing what chores they can before someone opens the furnace door.  This evening a few of the trees got trimmed a bit.

Here’s some before and after shots:

Plum – Santa Rosa:  Still growing strong, Santa Rosa is an excellent variety for this climate.  This is the first year that a harvest is expected.  There is still loads of fruit tucked up under that thick, green canopy.  Early June is the expected time to harvest.  This year things are going slower because of the cooler weather; but Santa Rosa should be the first of the fruits to harvest.

      

Peach – O’Henry:  This tree has produced fruit before but this season is a bit heavier.  The leaves only grow on the tips of the branches but this season they are growing denser.  This should help filter out the sun and prevent sun scald.  Umbrellas will be planted next to the trunk and opened when the sun gets more intense.  The fruit may be harvested starting in mid August.

      

Nectarine – Fantasia:  The peach and nectarine are similar in growth with the leaves growing at the tips of the branches.  The nectarine is doing a great job producing leaves.  This tree almost fell to pruning shears to make way for another tree.  I really thought this tree wasn’t going to work out.  An umbrella is set up already for this tree and has been opened to help shade the exposed trunk and branches and prevent sun scald.  Sadly, the one fruit that formed failed.  An future harvest should be from mid July to mid August.  I’m hopeful.

       

Apricot – Bleinheim:  The apricot produces an abundance of leaves.  It’s more productive than the successful plum tree.  No fruit has been harvested yet but it’s hanging under the cool shade getting plumper and more delicious with each day.  Harvest is expected in late June.

       

 

A couple of the trees didn’t warrant a pruning.

Apple – Granny Smith:  These should be ready in August or October sometime.  There are conflicting opinions.  Regular sampling will be needed to determine harvest time.

Pear – Warren:  No fruit this year.  I have no idea when to expect a harvest; but this tree takes well to being trained espalier.