chappellpeaches.com Blog

We continue to get into better peaches, but freestones will be another week.  There could be a few Harvesters late in the week.  We have dodged the rains for the last 5 days, which is a good thing right now.  Tomatoes are slow to ripen and our first planting doesn’t have a very good yield potential.  We are gathering some sweet corn, and cucumbers for the stand.  The peach supply is very good this week with lots of peaches to pick.  These will be the last of the clings and they look good with great color and uniform size.  Check back next week for more farm news.

We will open June 17th.  Clingstone peaches will be the rule for 10 more days.  Rubiprince, Surecrop, and Early Red Haven will be the main varieties.  The heavy rains a week ago haven’t hurt the peaches any as they seem to be firm without any rot damage.  Lower humidity and cool nights will help keep disease pressure down.  Freestone peaches will probably begin with Harvester in about 10 days.  Check back next week for more farm news.

Rain has been the word this week as we had over 6 inches.  One good thing about sand is the fact that we dry out fast.  This weather is going to hold the peaches back for a while, but a few hot days will bring them on quickly.  We are still looking to open the fruit stand around the 20th with probably Rubiprince and Summerprince being the first varieties.  Harvester will be the first freestone and it should be ready around the 25th of June.  Tomatoes are looking better since the rain, but it will be July before we pick any.  We should have corn, squash, and cucumbers when we open.  Check back next week for more farm news.

We will pick a few peaches later in the week, but not enough to open the fruit stand.  We hope to open around the 15th of June.  These early varieties have a short crop so we will wholesale them to other markets.  We should have plenty of peaches around the 20th and the supply should stay up into August.  We will be fine tuning the renovations at our stand this week as we prepare for the season opening.  Last year at this time we were open with a good supply of peaches.  This has been a cold spring which has delayed the harvest.  We will be updating the farm news next week with more details about the opening day.  Thanks for tuning in.