She's A Peach Hun!

Along with my grapes, my peaches are a plenty too!

My peach tree never ceases to amaze me with the number of peaches it has and continues to produce.  This is especially true because it has some sort or peach disease\blight, as well as a large hole near the base of it's trunk - both issues having been there since I bought the house some 25 years ago.

Early on with my homeownership I used to spray it with some peach tree elixir but no longer.  However, I continue to care for it and prune back it's dead limbs and branches at the end of the season, of which there's typically many, and it seems happy with that and comes back with beautiful pink blossoms each spring!

Many of the ripe fruit fall to the ground where rabbits, woodchucks and deer eagerly devour them, leaving behind peach pits galore beneath the tree.

They're not quite ripe yet but I'm monitoring. 

It's Peach Season!

My peach tree is loaded with peaches!  So much so that the added weight have some of the branches drooping close to the ground, even though I pruned the tree to be able to walk and mow beneath said limbs without any issues.

Unfortunately, the tree has some sort of fungus, which it has had for years now and it also affects the fruit too.  Many rot and mold up on the tree, some have spot damage, etc.  However, that being said, the peaches are still delicious!

As you might imagine the local critters do not care about a blemish or bruise or mold, nope.  They are still drawn to and seem to come out of the woodwork to feast on the fruit that falls.

The deer, however, have no problems eating both the peaches while still on the tree and the tender ends of the tree limbs, see pic below, as they're the perfect height -

At the same time as the peaches are ripening, areas of my lawn and veggie gardens show signs of a skunk.  Plus I've seen it out there when I let Trixie out at night to do her business.  It takes off running when the light comes on and I step out on the back deck.

It's out there digging for grubs, so I welcome it's presence and the removal of as many grubs as it can gorge on.  However, what I do NOT like is when it digs for said grubs in my lawn because it destroys the lawn and makes a mess -

And not to mention that the darn skunk is pooping EVERYWHERE, gross -

Also, I've been watching a woodchuck sneak over from the neighbors yard, through my fence, to grab a peach and dart back over to and under the shed.  I've come to learn that peaches are a woodchucks kryptonite, so it's time to take advantage of this fact and set my traps!

Tuesday evening I bait and set my trap but instead of waking up on Wednesday morning to a trapped woodchuck, I instead woke to a trapped skunk, alas!

I didn't want to mess with the trap and skunk, so I simply propped open the traps door and the skunk eventually made it's way out, through the fence and under the neighbors shed -

I'm not dismayed and still wanting to take advantage of the peaches, so I reset my trap Wednesday afternoon around 4ish, and now we wait!

Just over an hour later when I emerge from my shower what do my wandering eyes see but Mr. woodchuck trapped - 

Being freshly showered and hungry myself I contemplated on whether to deal with it then or wait until morning.  Since woodchucks are gross - their poop anyway, I opted for an evening drive -

And YES, as you might have guessed, this SOB left me a present in my trunk, well actually 4 smelly and wet and gross present pieces, GROSS and PU!

One problem solved...

Think Pink!

My peach tree is loaded with blossoms this year and looks terrific!  I took this picture a couple days ago, the blossoms have popped even more and is fuller today.  Too bad these flowers don't last very long.

Just Peachy Hun!

My peach tree looked and still looks great this year; the best it's looked in many, many years.

It didn't have many blossoms on it this past spring and for the first time in the 20+ years of living here, it didn't produce any peaches; not a single one.

The tree was here when I moved in back in 2000 and has been struggling some.  It has some sort of blight or fungus and several big holes in the trunk of the tree itself, see below.

I tried spaying it with some herbicide years ago, honestly don't think it did much.  I do prune it each fall to remove the diseased branches and limbs.  Suppose it's helped, as it's still here and fighting on.

Even when it had peaches in the past most went uneaten, as many of the fruit seem to have some sort of issue with them but they're still super tasty!  I'm undecided on what to do with it but leaning towards cutting it down and reclaiming the space.

Decision decisions...

The bottom hole is clear through to the other side but it's hanging on.

Pink Blossoms

Another early bloomer is our peach tree, always beautiful!

Sadly, there isn't too much of this tree left.  I've had to prune dead and infect limbs each year now.  However, it proudly blossoms each spring and continues to produce fruit, although smaller and fewer.