Peach Growers Satisfied with a Good Crop During Peak Season
This time of the year, is the peak season for peaches and with the Chilton County Peach Festival just a week away, some people say festival goers are in for a big treat.
Peach growers like mark gray say they are sold near and far.
“We sell all or ours from our orchard here at Peach Park but there are a lot of Chilton County farmers that have their peaches travel a long way from here,” says Gray.
Gray says this year’s crop is everything that he has expected.
“We’re just now getting into what everybody knows as the free stone or clear seed peach that will break off the seed. These are some of the best of the season,” says Gray.
His orchard has over 20 varieties of peaches. However, after a cold snap in the spring, there were some that suffered.
“It did thin some of the varieties out-some more than what we had like to had seen and I think some of the later varieties are going to suffer a little bit,” says Gray.
But that is not what peach lovers will see on the shelves.
“What will be out front are big, pretty Chilton County Peaches. That is what they’ll see. They don’t realize that we’ll have to go over more trees to get that many peaches,” says Gray.
Gray says, that extra work makes all the difference in this year’s crop.
“Last year was one of the worst seasons that chilton county had in many, many years-to have a good crop and for our trees to bounce back like they have, is really a blessing,” says Gray.
