How to grow peaches and nectarines

Growing peaches and nectarines

Planting peach and nectarines

Bare-rooted trees should be planted on a mild day any time from November to March. Container-grown trees can go in at any time.

Although they're hardy in the UK (apart from the far north), the blossom and young fruits are vulnerable to frost. Grow your trees against a south- or west-facing wall, or in a pot, which you can move under cover for winter.

Peaches and nectarines will tolerate most soils, but before planting dig in plenty of well-rotted garden compost or manure. If you have clay soil, improve drainage by filling the bottom of the planting hole with rubble. Plant your tree so the top of the rootball sits level with the soil’s surface and the stem is at least 20cm away from the wall. Prepare a framework of wires ready to tie in the stems as they grow.

To plant a tree in a pot, fill the bottom with pea gravel (to improve drainage and stability), then fill with a soil-based compost. Leave a gap between the compost and top of the pot for easy watering. Never let compost dry out.

How to care for your peach and nectarine crop

Water regularly, especially when fruits are forming. At blossom time, sprinkle a general fertiliser, such as pelleted poultry manure, around the tree. Follow with a mulch of garden compost or well-rotted manure.

Even though peaches are self-fertile you can encourage fruiting by hand-pollinating flowers using a soft brush and misting with water. When fruits are cherry-sized, thin out to one per cluster.

When the fruits are swelling, apply a high-potash liquid fertiliser, such as tomato feed, once a week.

After harvesting comes pruning. Peaches and nectarines flower and fruit on one-year-old shoots, so remove as much of the old growth as possible. Cut back a fruit stem to where a new shoot has grown, then tie in the new growth as a replacement.

How to harvest peaches and nectarines

Peach and nectarine fruits are ripe when they have coloured up and feel slightly soft. They should come off the branch with a gentle twist.

How to store peaches and nectarines

Peaches and nectarines bruise easily and don’t store well. You can freeze peaches and nectarines, but when defrosted they should be used for cooking.

Preparation and uses

Delicious eaten raw, added to fruit salads or poached in wine with a little sugar.

Peaches and nectarines: problem solving

Control aphids and red spider mite with an insecticidal soap. Peach leaf curl is a fungus that affects the emerging leaves in spring. It causes red blistering and distortion. Covering trees with polythene in late winter and early spring will stop rain splashes spreading infection.

Alan Titchmarsh shares his tips for preventing peach leaf curl, in this video.

Peaches versus nectarines

Both of these fruit have identical growing needs, but fuzzy-skinned peaches are slightly hardier than their smoother-skinned relations. Nectarines grow best when they’re trained against a warm wall or fence, in a sunny, sheltered position.

Great peach and nectarine varieties to grow

Peaches

• ‘Avalon Pride’ – pink flowers and juicy fruits from early August. It is said to be resistant to leaf curl disease
• ‘Duke of York’ – the red-skinned, yellow-fleshed fruits ripen from early summer
• ‘Peregrine’ – heavy crops of delicious fruits with red skin and white flesh, in mid-August. Mildew resistant

Nectarines

• ‘Lord Napier’ – large crimson-flushed fruits with sweet and juicy white flesh, ripening in early August
• ‘Pineapple’ – large orange-flushed fruits with yellow flesh, pick early September

Small is beautiful

• Dwarf ‘Terrace’ fruits – such as peach 'Terrace Amber' and 'Terrace Ruby' are ideal for growing in pots. They're compact and slow growing, so are ideal for those with limited space