My greenhouse peach is starting to flower. The buds have fattened hugely in the last week or so and changed from silvery spiky protrusions into fat pink jewels on the stems. They are going to be amazing.
This is a first for me, I have never grown peaches before and I am very excited at the prospect.
The greenhouse is the prefect place to raise this patio variety, though I think I may well move it outside in the summer so that it gets plenty of air flow through its branches.
At the moment the greenhouse is pretty closed down, which prevents pollinators from entering inside.
The flowers will need pollinating, so on warm days I plan to move it outside the greenhouse for the bees to find the flowers and on cool days I will resort to a paint brush, it is another reminder how essential pollinating insects are for the production of many of our crops and although peaches don’t naturally grow in the UK, they are quite happy in our climate and are still a great food source for pollinating insects.
Traditionally gardeners would use a rabbit’s foot for brushing the pollen onto the stigma, but I love bunnies (bunny hugger!!) and am sure a paintbrush will work just as well.
I wish now that I had bought an apricot too, but maybe that’s being a bit greedy?
