What you need to know about growing peaches and plums

What could be nicer than peaches and plums straight out of the garden? Here are the basics for growing and harvesting these two fruit trees.

Juicy, succulent peaches are on many gardeners' most-wanted lists, but they aren't always easy to grow.

• Peaches are temperate-zone trees, growing well around the Great Lakes and southwest of the Rockies.
• Be sure to select peaches that suit your climate and are resistant to disease.

Peaches need excellent drainage, full sun and protection from wind.

• If late-spring cold snaps are common, plant your trees on a north-facing slope, where frost-bitten buds will have a chance to thaw gradually before being exposed to the sun.

For a reliable harvest, plant new trees every five years. Peach trees live only 10 to 15 years, and the new trees will begin producing just as the old trees are fading.

• Keep the trees well watered during the growing season; they need about eight centimetres  of water each month.
• Spread organic mulch or compost at the tree base, keeping it 30 centimetres from the trunk.
• After the petals drop, feed with 10-10-10 fertilizer as growth begins in spring and spread about 500 grams (two cups) of bone meal outward to the drip line.

Peaches need to be pruned to increase fruit quality and promote growth.

• Remove any limbs that form a narrow angle and train to create a spreading shape with an open centre.
• Wait to prune until the flower buds are just starting to show pink. You'll easily be able to spot which branches will yield fruit and which have suffered winter damage.

A gummy substance oozing from holes in the trunk is a sign of peach-tree borers.

• Poke wire into their holes to kill them or place a ring of mothballs on the soil around the trunk in late summer, before the soil cools below 16°C.
• Mound a thin layer of soil over the mothballs and against the trunk; after one month, level the soil.

As green peaches won't mature off the tree, harvest peaches when ripe.

• Select fruits that are slightly soft but still firm, have good colour and come free from the stem with a twist.
• Let them ripen further at room temperature for three days.

Faster to grow and less finicky than peaches, dwarf plums make wonderful little landscape trees.

• Many newer varieties of plums are resistant to common diseases.
• Be sure to choose locally adapted varieties and plant more than one variety to ensure good pollination.

Some plum trees bloom early, especially Japanese plums, which bloom early in spring.

• The blossoms — and your crop — can be lost to a late frost.
• Plant the trees on a north-facing slope, which often delays blooming and thereby keeps the blossoms safe from cold.

Shallow-rooted plum trees can't tolerate much competition, even from grass.

• If you plant a plum on the lawn, keep the soil beneath it free of grass or weeds out to the drip line; mulch with organic matter instead.

These heavy bearers need plenty of organic matter and fertilizer for maximum fruiting.

• Dress with 500 grams (two cups) of bone meal and 250 grams (one cup) of alfalfa meal each spring, adding extra nitrogen if growth is not vigorous.
• In winter, spread five kilograms of compost from trunk to drip line.

Pick plums for eating fresh when they are fully ripe; the fruit should have good colour and be slightly soft.

Pick fruits for cooking when they're slightly underripe.