Planted a peach tree and a nectarine tree.....

[gimmethesimplelife]

Yesterday I planted a peach tree and today I will be planting a nectarine tree on my property. I'm so excited! It will be nice to have my own stash of fruit and I understand that the peach tree will start fruiting in it's first year! Rob

[nswef]

What a wonderful post! Peach and nectarine trees!

[Gardenarian]

That's great! I planted a peach and nectarine a few years ago and have not had any fruit - they were a freebie from a neighbor who got them ? I don't know where.

There is peach leaf curl everywhere in our area, but I know people who still get a lot of fruit without using any sprays.

[MaryHu]

Hooray for peaches! I planted one (semi dwarf, Contender variety) 3 years ago now and got a few peaches last summer (it's second year in the ground) They were great. So much so that I'm going to plant another of the same variety this spring to replace the disappointing golden delicious apple that seems to want spraying constantly. This variety is the best for our northern climate with late frosts that spoil so many other fruit trees here. Got my first nectarines last summer, only 3 or 4 on the tree that's been in the ground 5 or more years. Again, late frosts interfere.

[peggy]

Rob, you can also grow figs where you are. A truly wonderful fruit. Brown Turkey would do great, and it doesn't need a second to pollinate. FYI- sometimes when a tree is self pollinating, it still benefits greatly from another near-by.
OH, you can also grow pomegranates! Happy gardening!:)

[gimmethesimplelife]

Rob, you can also grow figs where you are. A truly wonderful fruit. Brown Turkey would do great, and it doesn't need a second to pollinate. FYI- sometimes when a tree is self pollinating, it still benefits greatly from another near-by.
OH, you can also grow pomegranates! Happy gardening!:)Hi Peggy!

I have thought about planting a fig tree but I don't think they come in dwarf (?) and I'd need a dwarf size as the space I have to work with is not that big. I already have a pomegranate tree and I love having pomegranates every fall! And pomegranates are so low maintainance, too! Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

Here's an update. I did some research and found that BlackJack Fig is semi-dwarf and can easily be kept to 6 feet tall by pruning and does well in this climate zone. Today I bought one and I will be planting it this weekend. Really looking forward to having home grown figs! Rob

[iris lilies]

I would love to be able to grow pomegranates, they are such an exotic thing!

Our citrus harvest this year was one big fat lemon. It was huge! We made lemon chicken with it.

[pinkytoe]

Hoping my mandarins and pomegranates make it through this ridiculous winter. I have both covered them up with mulch and sheets but so many freezes will probably do them in.

[rodeosweetheart]

Yeah Rob, that sounds great! How about a meyer lemon tree?

[gimmethesimplelife]

Yeah Rob, that sounds great! How about a meyer lemon tree?I'd love to have a lemon tree but at this point on my urban lot there is no space left. But I'm happy with the vegetable garden, an orange tree, a pomegranate tree, two lime trees, two peach trees, one nectarine tree and one fig tree. That all I was able to squeeze in and I will be so happy once these all start producing. At the moment only the orange tree and the pomegranate tree are producing. Rob

[CathyA]

Sounds wonderful Rob. Good luck with it all. I'm envious of being able to step out the door and pick any of those fruits you are growing! Enjoy!

[thinkgreen]

Rob I have a couple of Meyer lemon trees and grow them in pots. You can prune them and they produce flowers with a wonderful scent. Of course they produce fruit as well but just having them by the doorway is so pleasant because of the scent.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Rob I have a couple of Meyer lemon trees and grow them in pots. You can prune them and they produce flowers with a wonderful scent. Of course they produce fruit as well but just having them by the doorway is so pleasant because of the scent.Hmmmmm.....I will look into this. I love the scent of citrus blossoms. That is my favorite time of the year in Phoenix, the middle of March, when the citrus trees are blooming. Parts of the city just smell incredible. And I didn't know Meyers could be grown in pots, I thought they wanted to get huge. Thanks for your post! Rob

[RosieTR]

What kind of peach did you plant, Rob? Peaches were actually our best fruit tree in Phoenix....they don't do that great in northern CO but we planted a couple last spring anyway. I heard nectarines for some reason always get some type of disease/pest or something in the Phx area so if yours doesn't work out it could be that. But then you could maybe just plant another peach! We tried apples too but they were less impressive (only a few and kind of mealy). I think we got a few lemons from an improved Meyer, but that was about it on the citrus-I think they may have needed more time. Some of the permaculture folks do impressive amounts of fruit on tiny trees, basically pruned to be tiny. You might explore the Phoenix Permaculture club a bit for advice/varieties. They also had inexpensive trees, like $30-40 each, with advice on how to prune and plant. Good luck and enjoy the peaches! FYI, we had birds strip them so had to put in a bird net when the fruit was nearly ripe. Worked like a charm except our cat sat right under it, hoping to get a finch.

[gimmethesimplelife]

What kind of peach did you plant, Rob? Peaches were actually our best fruit tree in Phoenix....they don't do that great in northern CO but we planted a couple last spring anyway. I heard nectarines for some reason always get some type of disease/pest or something in the Phx area so if yours doesn't work out it could be that. But then you could maybe just plant another peach! We tried apples too but they were less impressive (only a few and kind of mealy). I think we got a few lemons from an improved Meyer, but that was about it on the citrus-I think they may have needed more time. Some of the permaculture folks do impressive amounts of fruit on tiny trees, basically pruned to be tiny. You might explore the Phoenix Permaculture club a bit for advice/varieties. They also had inexpensive trees, like $30-40 each, with advice on how to prune and plant. Good luck and enjoy the peaches! FYI, we had birds strip them so had to put in a bird net when the fruit was nearly ripe. Worked like a charm except our cat sat right under it, hoping to get a finch.Hi! I planted Babcock peaches which are a drawf peach tree that supposedly does well in Phoenix. One of my Babcocks is blooming right now and I'm so glad it "took". I have one Southern Belle dwarf nectarine tree that is doing nothing yet, just looks as if it is dormant. It is supposed to get up to 87F here this coming Friday so I hope the nectarine responds to the heat.

Other than that, I have a Valencia orange tree that does well every year, a Wonderful pomegranate tree that does well every year, too. I put in a semi-dwarf BlackJack fig tree that is suited to this climate and I'm told can be kept to six feet by pruning, and it's already budding out so I'm happy on this one. I also have two Bearrs drawf lime trees and I love limes - I love to squeeze limes over almost anything so I'll be glad when they start producing. And I also have broccoli planted and it seems to be doing well, too.

And thanks for the advice! I sure could use some advice about pruning! I feel like with my roses for example - I way overprune but they keep coming up anyway. I also planted a Hot Cocoa rose and it's leafing out and I'm looking forward to roses in March or April.....I'm very grateful for the survey sites I take surveys on, this was all paid by doing surveys. Tedious and boring work but it's yielding some results I'm happy with here!

Rob

I came back to add that there are apples that are supposed to be suited to this climate with low chilling requirements but every apple I've ever been given by someone who has planted an apple tree here has not tasted very good. I'm of the opinion that apples are just not meant to deal with the intense heat as citrus is. Citrus is so easy here - just give it citrus food three times during the growing season and make sure to water it regularly and boom - come November/December - wonderful citrus. Apples to me just don't seem to work here and probably need to be babied a lot to produce I'm guessing?

[MaryHu]

Hey Rob,

Dwarf Meyer lemons don't take much room. They're really more of a bush than a tree. We had one in my parents yard (in San Diego) for 40 years or more and it only ever got about 5 feet tall and maybe the same around. And they can be kept in pot. I have one here in the great white north in a pot. I put it outside in the spring and bring it inside in the fall. It's in the living room south facing window and has maybe 8 lemons in various stages of ripeness on it now. Needless to say it's much smaller in a pot than it would be in the ground if the climate would permit that. Maybe someday I'll have a greenhouse that can accommodate that. I also have a brown turkey fig in a pot. Good luck with your trees!

Mary