Flames on Peaches = Very sweet peaches!

 When you purchase most peaches in a large grocery store chain, they tend to be rather hard and will not taste the same as a tree ripened peach.   The reason for this is that tree ripened peaches are very fragile and do not ship well.     Most commercial peach growers will pick them firm and usually under ripe.   The reason for this is that peaches will travel two weeks on average from grower to the produce aisle.   That means the peaches aren't allowed to develop that full and sweet peach flavor.

I have 6 peach trees at Fox Farm and I planted different varieties that produce at different times of the year.    I allow them to  remain on the tree until they are completely ripe and soft.  What happens  that the sun will make parts of the peach red, but the leaves will leave shadows on the leaves.   This doesn't happen with commercial peaches because they aren't left on the trees long enough for this to happen.   I call them flames.   I have attached a couple pictures of peaches from last years crop and you can clearly see the outline of the leaves where the sun was blocked.   This doesn't mean the peach isn't ripe in the shadows, the peach will be fully ripe.   It makes for a very pretty peach.

Greenhouse installation at Fox Farm - Conley Greenhouse

 I purchased and installed a greenhouse for starter plants for Fox Farm last spring.    I borrowed $10,000 on Kiva which is a crowd lending organization.   Its a great way to loan money to businesses, individuals and people who want to improve their life with a kiva loan.    

Here is a image of my loan.  I have almost completely paid it off.   

I am also a kiva lender and have made over 1270 loans over the past few years.    

The greenhouse I chose was made by Conley Greenhouses and I purchased it from Greenhousemegastore.com    Turns out I probably overpaid because it was manufactured in Upland CA which is 30 miles from me - but shipped to Indiana and then shipped back to me in Riverside CA.    I didn't realize that when I ordered it.

The size is 9' X 12' and was a kit with fans, and a propane heater.   

Images of the greenhouse flyer and plans

The first step was installing the concrete pad.  I wanted to make sure it was firmly anchored as sometimes we have high winds that will blow through the farm and didn't want my greenhouse blowing away during a Santa Ana Wind Event.

Next was installing the frame support brackets to hold the greenhouse to the foundation.

Once the supports were installed -  its time to put it together which was a challenge.  here are all the parts before installation started.

Here are images of the installation process.   I had various people help whom have never installed a greenhouse.    I did call Conley greenhouses to see if they could install, but the Pot growers were keeping them busy installing large greenhouses.

Here are images of it completed along with some starter plants inside.