Peach Watch '11 Concludes

A few weeks ago, I posted about the peaches I'd been watching since March.  At the time, they still needed a few more weeks to ripen.  Yesterday, I drove by the farm (in southern New Jersey) and they looks ripe for picking!

In fact, the farmer's market down the street had tons of them, and they were perfection!

Peach Update

In late March, I posted on Prunus persica or the peach tree as I began watching the orchard I pass on my way to the beach develop fruit.  By early May, the peaches had begun to form, though they were very small. 

This weekend I passed the plants again and the peaches have been developing steadily. 

It's fun to track a specific plant in "real time" and truly appreciate what goes into getting a simple piece of fruit.  More so, you can appreciate the financial risks involved for the farmers.

Prunus persica

My family has been going to the Ocean City, New Jersey for the beach since I was a little kid, living in South Jersey myself.  My mother's family has been going to this town since the 1950's so it has a pretty dear place in our hearts.  Given my own childhood of moving every three years, I'm especially fond of it, since I have memories of being there when I was three years old up until now, when I'm ___ years old!

Whenever we make the drive from the DC area, we pass through a lot of farmland, on Route 40, between the shore itself and the Delaware River Memorial Bridge.  It's beautiful country and always reminds me more of the midwest than a place that's geographically a few hours' drive from DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Most times, I'm making the drive by myself and feel too rushed to stop and snap pictures, but my mom and I were in the car together this last time and we began "Peachtree watch, Spring 11."  Or something.

This orchard is just budding up and I'll post pictures of the trees' progress in the weeks to come.  Even in winter it's beautiful.  The silver hue of the old bark sparkles in a gray winter January landscape and the new growth is, well, peachy colored.

The genus itself, Prunus should sound familiar.  Just last Sunday I posted on a far more recognizable species of Prunus - the cherry tree.  Also known as Prunus x. yedoensis, Prunus serrulata, etc.

Indeed, cherries are more popular for ornamental purposes whereas peaches are mainly grown for producing fruit.  The species name, persica literally means "peach" in Latin.  It was believed the plant was from Persia (Iran) but now we know that it is originally native to China but its origin became confused on its trip to Europe via the Silk Road.

Now then, as a former resident of Athens, Georgia, I will not contest the quality of Georgia or South Carolina peaches.  I get it.  But Jersey peaches are damn good.  And of course ecologically, who doesn't want to buy local?  The geology of the region lends itself to good produce (ergo the "Garden State") - low flat land with sandy soil and a high water table (typical for the Atlantic Coastal Plain) makes for good farming.  

In fact, my family loves Jersey produce so much, we play a terrible game.  Go to the farmer's stand and pick one thing.  What do you get?  For me, it's an easy game until I get down to the final three: tomatoes, blueberries and peaches.  All delicious.   

 

Though peaches do make the best pies. 

Helianthus annuus

I was in Maryland last week, scoping out plant nurseries and setting up accounts when I saw a flash of yellow on a hillside in the distance.  As I approached the field closer, it was evident that I had stumbled upon a sunflower farm. 

The last time I saw this many sunflowers growing in the landscape was in 1996, when I was driving through Kansas.  It's hard not to think, Kansas=Corn, but Kansas is one of the top three sunflower crop producing states in the country (along with North and South Dakota).

Sunflowers were first cultivated by Native Americans at around 3000 BC.  Over the years, the plant  has been hybridized so that it yields as many seeds as possible, since that is its valuable resource.  However, the specimens above have fairly large ray florets and the area of disc florets is relatively small, leading me to speculate that these plants may be farmed for cut flowers, and not for sunflower seeds.  Though I just don't know...Maybe the next time I'm nearby I will go and ask!