Nectarines.

Posted on 31 Jul, 2009 9 comments

Another story from the farm.
It all started after we first moved onto the farm. There was this old timber and asbestos house, rather large, veranda in front and back. The house was built into the slope of the hill and the back veranda was concrete and landed straight into the back garden. On the side of the house was a nectarine tree. It was shady and underneath was a kind of wooden platform, which looked like it would have had a water tank on it in its younger days. Now this was the ideal flat surface where I would put the pram with my babygirl in it. Over the pram I’d have a flynet, so nothing would fall or fly into her pram. In late summer I noticed these fruits on the tree and wondered what they were. I’d never seen any nectarines before. The swelled up and as they ripened I used to sit there next to the pram tasting them. Hmm, they really were good.
As years went by, the baby grew and so did the tree. We discovered it had its roots right next to the septic tank and it must have drawn its water from the overflow, probably fertilised at the same time. It was an old septic system with clay pipes in the drain and eventually they got all blocked up, which caused a lot of work to redirect the drain. Soapy suds also are very damaging and clog up drain systems. But the tree thrived by all of it.
Until one day it had to go, because it just kept stretching its roots to places it should not be. So, out it went, chainsaw’s good for that purpose. I was a bit sad about it, as over the years I had bottled most of its fruit and they were delicious. Hubby promised to get some new trees.
I looked puzzled…..my garden was full with catalpa trees, where could he possibly put the nectarines?
But then I knew it, as soon as I saw him take out some old appletrees, varieties which had not done too well or had lost its popularity on the market. After all, one has to make money.
So, here, in 9 rows we prepared the soil and that winter we planted 900 (!!!) nectarine trees. Some rows were Maygrand, others Independent. Wow. I was over the moon. I had rows of them now. The next thing I heard I had to help look after them too. Hmm, I really hadn’t bargained for that. But it was easy. Hubby did all the pruning, thinning ( he had a crew in for that ), fertilising, spraying, but I did the summer pruning and picking. Summer pruning is easy. You just walk past all of them with a pair of secateurs ( well, the Swiss Felco ones of course ) and snap, snap, snap, cutting out all the suckers of the base and some in the centre. The idea is to let light into the tree. The thinning had been done and these nectarines just grew into monsters, nearly applesize. They were firm and sweet. I tasted many of them. Firm is good, so they don’t get damaged when picking. They were early varieties and we fetched a nice price on the market. Needless to ask if I got my share of that too, lol.
I wonder if we’d ever had planted them if I hadn’t put my baby under that tree…..

Comments

Gee19

I love nectarines and now, whenever I buy some, I will think if you planting 900 trees! Another fascinating blog, thank you.

31 Jul, 2009

Ian_digs_v2

Yummie, A really tasty blog and just as tasty are those 900 trees. LOL

31 Jul, 2009

Sandra

another great blog...;-))
you do , do things big...lol

31 Jul, 2009

Louise1

Lovely blog Marguerite :)

31 Jul, 2009

Lincslass

Your baby has a lot to answer for lol.Fascinating blog Margurite......

31 Jul, 2009

Marguerite

Thank you all for your feedback. Very true Lincslass!
Yes, Sandra, plenty of space here too for all of that. Spaced widely, easy access. But you have to if you want to make a living outof it.

1 Aug, 2009

Marge

What a luxury to have all that land! I am lucky to find space for one more plant - never mind hundreds.

I do have one Pomegranite tree, as a Bonsai, it gets flowers on but I don't think he is big enough for fruit. It is the most responsive tree I have ever had. He tells me when he is unhappy, I take him outside to sunbathe, then as the evening cools down, the leaves droop downwards and I know it is time to bring him back indoors.

1 Aug, 2009

Marguerite

Haha Marge, I really like the way you describe your plant care. No, I doubt if a bonsai will give you fruit.
Re our land: it was cheap when we first bought it and there were 200 acres of it. We wanted to farm, so you need land for that.

2 Aug, 2009