Patty,
Those looked delicious. Congrats on your bounty.
Thank you, all! That poor Galaxy tree. Going to have to really fertilize it well now. It just sets like mad, and this year everything set in abundance. My Arctic Star Necatarine probably has over 200 fruits on it. Good thing I like nectarine everything because I’m going to have to freeze bags and bags of them, along with making preserves this year, too. And, more cots to come!! Haven’t picked Blenhiem, and that’s full this year, too. It is a good stone fruit year for me, finally.
Patty S.
Rob, if you like a super sweet sub-acid peach, then you’ll love Galaxy. If they’re picked dead ripe, they have a bit of a spicy taste. I really like them.
Patty S.
Yes Muddy, some of the leaves showed signs of ‘dying back’. Cut scapes about 2 weeks ago. I don’t wait too long because if the skins crack they don’t store well. I lost 3 last year waiting for more ‘die back’ to harvest, and as I cleaned up this years harvest, I saw some of the outermost skins had split - not enough to affect storage though. I’m still eating off last years harvest and they are good quality with tight dry skins.
I plant in late October and mulch heavily with pine straw (as you can see in the photo) so the ground was soft. A slow firm tug was all that was needed to loose the bulb.
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My friend visited from out of town. We did some orchard work until we were sunstroked.
We could not resist trying this pair of Whitegold. Not fully ripe yet, but still good. A harbinger of things to come:
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Lapins has some ripe/some just about there. I ate probably a pound this morning. It rained again last night…3/4 inch. I’m noticing almost no cracking and very little brown rot. I haven’t sprayed these fruit with anything this year. I’m pretty amazed. Maybe its been the heat or something.
I’d like to add an earlier ripening variety.
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Growing sweet cherries outside is such a pain. Birds or rain usually dictates picking before they are really ripe. Lapins is a very dark cherry when fully ripe.
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First people taunt me with pics of cots. Now cherries. Sigh.
This past erratically warm wacky winter left me with no cherry blooms, much less actual cherries.
Yup… When your dealing with torrential rains, hungry robins and little kids…you pick them asap.
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Patty, I hate to admit this but seeing your bowl of ‘flat’ peaches makes me confess. I have never eaten a ‘flat’ peach! I just thought they were a passing novelty (like Nadia), but now I know I’ve missed something. Are they sweet and juicy like a regular peach? I could never figure out the ‘advantage’ of their shape? Easier to eat? Inspiring!
Exciting isn’t it Matt???
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They’re very sweet and juicy. There are better cultivars than Galaxy out there which are more “peachy” than Galaxy. Sweet Bagel is really excellent, but doesn’t set as well for me as Galaxy does. And, for some folks in more humid areas, Sweet Bagel may have rot issues. Tang-O and Tang-O II is also supposed to be excellent and less prone to rot. You can just push the pit out with your thumb, and gobble them down. There is even a flat nectarine as well, Sauzee King, which I grow but is a very shy setter for me, but is very good.
Patty S.
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Mrs. G.,
I think you will like Saturn, too. Low acid and sweet, white flat peach. I bought them from farmers’s markets in PA.
I don’t like Tango’s for its rubbery texture but it looks very attractive.
Fortunately, people sent me scionwood of both Saturn and Galaxy. Hopefully I will find out myself in a few years.
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Petite Negra(is this the same as Petite Negri?)
and Negronne ripening
Tried first Newberry of the year,very good flavor-thanks Scott for the recomendation
Any Northern people growing Hannah’s Choice Blueberry?Long and lanky and with small clusters here and there,but the berry is very good. Brady
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Give TangOs a chance. I thought they were crap/was ready to cut my tree down the 1st year they fruited, but the following year they were about 10x better… my kids loved them too…the rubber was gone. Maybe under ripe the first year…the 2nd they were much more orange. I think stonefruit can really vary from year to year.
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I made new wheelbarrow handles. I cut one of five ten foot long Osage Orange planks. They are roughly ten inches wide by two and a half inches thick. This is the hardest wood around here. My skill saw got a butt whooping trying to rip it with a so so blade. Even with the table set all the way up the blade still didn’t cut the last 16". I bought one new wheel and one tire too. $17 for the wheel and $12 for the tire at Family Farm and Home. I made four handles for two wheelbarrows. None of the bolts would come off seeing I couldn’t hold the rounded carriage bolts, so I cut them off. I need to get new hardware to put them together. I have to shape the handles better yet with the grinder. I was having trouble finding my sanding wheel that goes on it, but I found it after I cleaned up. We were talking on a thread earlier in the year about making handles and some said to use Osage. you can see the blade marks on the wood of how far it could cut through.
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Thanks for your input.
Spoke to soon. Galaxy is one of a few 2nd round grafts that does not look like it will take. The scionwood looked so good. Bummer.
