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Gardening with Gael - Fruit diversity key to a good orchard

 

Summerblaze peaches lgMy granddaughters and I were driving up Waiteitei Road on the way home from a day out of the sun, and into the movies when we remembered someone saying that they had heard that the Peach Patch was going to reopen this year.

There are about three miserable peaches on our tree this year therefore the most sensible thing to do was to do a very quick detour to investigate. Situated on the left just past Ryan Road on the right we were there in time to see Max Wintle, owner of the Peach Patch, contemplating the positioning of his new sign.
“Yes,” said Max as we pulled up. “This is our first day open.”

Our Billington plums which we planted as a pollinator are nowhere near ripe, but there in the stands were boxes of delicious ripe plums. As well as being a pollinator for a number of other plums, Billingtons have a firm red sweet flesh and are ready now. Santa Rosas, also a great pollinator, are ripe as well. The range in size of fruit is considerable. We bought peaches and plums along with apple cucumbers, beans and courgettes and we were on our way again, a very quick and worthwhile detour. 

For Max, when planting a commercial orchard, consideration has to be given to diversity of fruit so that there is an ever-evolving variety of produce. Billingtons and Santa Rosas  begin in early January followed by Fortune, Luisa, Black Doris and lastly my favourite Omega. The peach currently available is called Summer Blaze. My friend Jill has a wonderful heritage peach from Laura and Benji’s Forgotten Fruits called Ribcage, which is just ripening now. They had so many peaches from this tree last year that her husband Donn, in a bid to preserve some, placed them in a jar and poured vodka over them. I can testify that this was indeed an excellent method of preservation.

Each variety from the Peach Patch lasts about two weeks. In about three weeks red and yellow watermelons will be available, followed by orange fleshed rock melon. When Max first started selling the two varieties of watermelon he said that they sold with a ratio of 90 per cent red to 10 per cent yellow. I remember Box bringing one home and we thought there was something wrong with it. One taste is enough. Since then the popularity of the sweet yellow fleshed watermelon has grown and the ratio would now be 60 per cent red and 40 per cent yellow.

“Honey dew?” I asked because this is one of our favourites.

“Honey dew can be tricky,” replied Max. The wet autumn impacted on the crop. Melons need a good summer to grow and ripen. A tropical cyclone mid January followed by 4–5 days humidity can be disastrous. A cyclone mid January can also adversely affect peaches and bring out any brown rot. We have had problems with our Golden Queen peach. Max advised me that Golden Queen peaches are best planted in a low area of the property to gain as much winter chilling as possible.

“What” I asked Max, “is your recommendation for controlling brown rot in peaches?”

“We try to spray as little as possible,” said Max, “but it is essential to do a controlled fungicide spray at the right time to control the brown rot.”

“And the right time?”

“Over flowering. The brown rot will sit in the flower and then in the peach as it is developing so control at flowering is very important. It’s too late once the brown rot is noticeable.”

An interesting fact from Max: A survey conducted by the Summer Fruit Industry Organisation  on recognition of the varieties of stone fruit saw Black Doris plums as the most recognised followed by Golden Queen peaches. 

Summerblaze peaches have been on sale at the Peach Patch. (PHOTO/Peach Patch)

 
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