It’s hot here. Really hot. Not just “I am from Northern California and anything over 75 degrees makes me whine” hot (although it does….and I do). I mean 100 degrees and no wind hot. And it will last for a few more days. It is so hot the roses withered (mostly) and the bees spend more time at the bird bath than in the flowers. Let’s hope the tomatoes like it. Meanwhile, we are picking our fruit early and seeking shade. But there is an upside…we have peaches. Lots of peaches.
Our orchard (such as it is) has over a dozen trees and 25% of those trees are peaches. We have Red Haven, Sun Crest and Indian Free peach trees, with the Red Havens being the earliest and heartiest. The Sun Crests are the sweetest and the Indian Free have the most unusual flavor and color, but the Red Havens make up the bulk of our peaches, and we can live with that. This crop is good, with big, sweet and juicy peaches that are (mostly) nice to look at. Success. And while you might see some peaches in recipes, we mostly eat them out of hand. No embellishments needed.
Yes, yes, you are happy to see us….
Otherwise, life in the garden marches on. The blueberries are near the end (they don’t love the heat much, either). Strawberries are thriving, eggplants and zucchini are coming in fast. Carrot tops are big and bushy, hinting that we may have some good stuff growing underground. The early tomatoes are giving us a few teasers to enjoy at lunch. And the herb garden is becoming an herb forest (thicket?). Lemon verbena anyone? Anyone?
And since it is July, we have a few extra pics….enjoy the month!
Related articles
- The Peach Tree on the Southern Wall, poem by Christina Rosetti (silverbirchpress.wordpress.com)
- PEACHES! Jam & Canned in Syrup (hollerbackacres.com)
- Remember to Spray Your Apple and Peach Trees (waterloogardens.wordpress.com)
Putney Farm 
It sure is July and your beautiful photos prove it.
Thanks…and a hot July at that…
Oh yes, summer is here, it hit a 106 in north Texas the other day! Peaches and fresh fruit are the only hope on such days! Love the garden pics…beautiful!
Thanks…and we didn’t quite get to 106 (but we were trying…)
Expecting some peach smashes!
You will get them soon…
Love your photos! Gotta love summer. 🙂
Thanks- and we do love it…always too short…
Oh the envy 😉 That this would all be available to you in your “backyard”! Yes to your lemon verbena. I bet you make a great cocktail with that 🙂
Thanks- we are working on cocktails w/ the verbena- it has the lemon flavor w/out sour or acid…
sounds lovely–have seen lemon verbena included in many a cocktail recipe, but have never tried.
Returning to an earlier thread, not surprised you know of Eric Seed and have benefited from his research and travels. Have you met him? Seems an interesting guy.
Haven’t met him, but since I am going to more booze / cocktail events for my magazine writing I may get the chance…it would be great to find out what the next obscure treat will be…
Gorgies peaches, Putnuts!! It’s fruit time!
Yes. It. Is. Saw u got some nice cherries the other day…
You cannot beat summer produce, but I totally wilt in the heat. There seem to be so many people who love it when it’s super hot outside. For me, I just keep thinking that the bad thing about summer is that there is only so much clothing you can remove 😦
We love the heat, but are beyond our upper bounds- when you can’t work in the garden or even it the kitchen, it is just too hot…
the eggplant and pepper look so beautiful… almost too beautiful to eat!
almost… 😉
Crazy weather you’ve been having! All my NorCal friends are complaining, and I, for once, am glad to be in Texas with my a/c on full blast. 😉
Believe it or not, some of us don’t even have AC (we do now, but our first place didn’t)…
When we lived there, we didn’t either! I’ll take 100 degrees with a/c over 90 degrees without a/c any day!
Beautiful and refreshing shots……
Thanks!
Beautiful
Thanks!
This post is so wonderful, I work for the Produce department of Marks & Spencers so I really appreciate good quality feuit and veg and my oh my do those Peaches and Aubergines (spot the English girl!) look so juicy and beautiful. Wish I could hop over the ocean and taste!
Thanks! This years’ crop was pretty good. But even if they taste good, keeping the peaches looking good (and surviving transit) is a challenge- we have a lot of respect for the farmers that get peaches and nectarines to market…
Reblogged this on ComoManger and commented:
What beautiful fruit and veg! There’s nothing like a good peach, especially if it’s home grown, what a treat!
Peaches are my favorite fruit. Yours look beautiful! I just picked the last of our garden this week. Nothing much survives once it hits 115 degrees, but it was fun while it lasted. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your garden an orchard!
Thanks- and we had to pick all sorts of stuff- everything started to fry…many fo the flowers are toast…such is life..
I remember your last summer post about your peaches … same this year – just beautiful story again. That is hot for a viking like me … 90 is more than hot.
How do your vegetables and flowers survive – in this heat … don’t you have shortage of water … Sweden had the hottest temperature ever in Mållia in 1947 – it was 100.3F – that is hot for Sweden and it doesn’t happen very often, twice I think so far in 1933 too. I couldn’t handle that heat for a long time.
I think we would enjoy summer in Sweden. Carolyn is 1/2 Swede (from way back) and doesn’t love the heat.
We are always short of water but use drip irrigation hoses (we still use too much). As for the heat- it shriveled a buch of our flowers and we held off on out lettuces and greens until it passed.
The peppers and eggplant were happy, at least…
Mmm! I can almost taste those peaches and feel the juice dripping off my chin.
I didn’t know bees hang out at water “holes” such as bird baths. I’m going to investigate this further. Bees really are fascinating, aren’t they? They seem really smart.
The honeybees are something. Did you know they only work the “best” blossoms available? That is why you can get specific types of honey (it works here- they focus on lavender and herb blossoms above all else).
Happily the native bees aren’t so picky and pollenate everything wlse…
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