Peaches

Farming can be an adventure, challenging, and also filled with learning experiments and ideas of new ways to grow food.  Growing peaches in Wisconsin is challenging because late spring frosts can kill the blossoms, and our harsh winter temperatures can kill the trees. And that is heartbreaking when you invest so much time, work, and money into something only to watch it die, or year after year not produce. So we had an idea, which turned into several conversations, which lead to us questioning our sanity, which then lead to…ah well, why not! Let’s try something a little crazy and weird and see what happens! So in the spring of 2023 we decided to try a peach experiment. Introducing, our Bigfoot Peach House!

To help mitigate winter damage we are growing our peach trees inside a greenhouse. Now growing trees indoors poses some different challenges than growing them outdoors, mostly because space is limited and there is little to no wiggle room. So, it is incredibly important to utilize the space in the most efficient way. We are training our trees to grow in a way that is referred to as Upright Fruiting Offshoots, or UFO for short. We started by building a trellis. Then we planted each tree at a 45 degree angle to reduce initial stem vigor and encourage upright side shoots. The upright side shoots were then tied securely to the upper trellis wires as they grew. At maturity, the UFO system will yield a fruiting wall that is both productive and simple to maintain. In our greenhouse we have 58 trees total. 48 of them are Redhaven, 5 August Rose, and 5 of them are Saturn “Donut” Peaches. Now, why do we call it the Bigfoot Peach house…..well why not? Crazy ideas calls for a crazy guardian, and Bigfoot was up to the task 😉

 

Redhaven: All-purpose, freestone, sweet yellow flesh, incredibly juicy, and almost fuzzless skin. Highly rated for its exceptional, sweet flavor, making it a favorite “dessert peach”. They ripen early to mid August. 

 

August Rose: Late-season, white-fleshed peach that is very sweet and low acid. The freestone fruit is very firm and has a delicious melting texture.

 

Saturn: Also known as Donut Peaches, are small, flattened, donut-shaped fruits known for their very sweet and candy-like white flesh and low acidity. The pit is located where the “donut hole” would be and are freestone with the pit being about the size of a pistachio nut. So while they are smaller peaches, you don’t loose very much to the pit. They make a perfect snack! They ripen early to mid August.