The Peach Tree

Let me just say I'm not a gardener.  But if I were a bat, I'd probably be a fruit bat.  And my family has a dwarf peach tree in the back yard.  Over the last couple of seasons, my family and I were so swamped with insanity that we didn't get to harvest that many.  I think last year we missed it entirely.  This year, this fruit bat would like to eat some peaches.

So, I decided to see what I could do to take care of the tree, at least a little, so we could enjoy it's sweet, zangy fruit when it ripens.

The first step was to reduce the tree's burden.

Our tree likes to produce peaches.  No, really, it likes to produce peaches.  More than it can handle.  In some places, I thought the fruit looked like grape clusters.  And I noticed after I went through a branch and thinned it out, it sprang back up and looked a lot more cheerful.  This crazy tree likes to try to do more than it can.

So, I went at it, branch after branch, making sure to get up close and personal all the way to the core of the tree, and in the process, I came across six ladybugs.  Now, there are not many bugs that I like, and even fewer that I will purposefully allow to touch me, but the ladybug is one that fits both categories.  So, every time I came across one, I was delighted.  At one point, my papa came out and helped, and he almost immediately found another ladybug.  Seven in all protecting our peaches from aphids.  That's happy.

We'll see what happens from here.  I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm hoping thinning out some peaches will make it more likely that we can actually eat some.

Before and After.

Note the ground underneath.