A man in our church gave me two peach trees earlier this year and we planted them.  We are in zone 7 and I was wondering what would be some of the best things to plant around them if we wanted to have a Peach tree guild.  Any suggestions?

Same question for blueberry bushes.  What are some good companion plants?

    I  have just read that lemon balm a sort of mint attracts bees. I had read before that it was a good plant under apple trees but i had not read why. Bees they say love it and people even rub hives with it to make the bees fonder of their home. It also serves to sooth people in teas and such. Peaches need bees as much as apples do so you can include lemon balm in a peach tree guild.
If you collect its seedd pulling the part of the plant with seeds on it through your fingers it leaves a rough patch on your fingers that lasts for at least a week. I have had this happen to me twice now.

Does anyone have usefull information on how to reduce or stop peach tree curl? Are there plants or fungi companions that could help with that? agri rose macaskie.

peach trees like alkaline soil and some nitrogen. I try things like lupines around peaches to bring in nitrogen, I could send you some seeds of mine if you want...they'll be ready in a few weeks..

anything that flowers the same time as peaches would also be helpful, daffodills would flower here when peaches do and they also help to keep down weeds

something with deep roots to bring up nutrients would be helpful, a dynamic accumulator, there are lots of those around, think long taproot or herbs like yarrow to feed parastic wasps

as for the blueberry plants, acid soil so things that like acid soil around them, like cranberry, wintergreen as a ground cover, and maybe behind them on the North you could use service berry or juneberry

  Peach trees like alkaline soil, then mine dont have particularly alkaline soil theri in dsandy soil. I shall have to give them a bit of calcium. Is the alkaline soil true of apricots too? i have just started growing apricots.
      I would love some seeds. i can send you my address on the private post bit of the forums.
      You will have to send me hints on how to grow seeds as well as sending me seeds, i am not yet good at seeds though i begin to have some success.
      I have put all my cut bits of blackberry and the cut leaves from my pampas grass in one spot and mean to try to grow garden giant mushrooms that i hope will turn my my trimmings into lots of soil for blue berries. Someone on these forums said that if you had enough humus type soil rottign organic matter that you should be able to grow blueberries though you did not have the right soil for them.
 
      My brother in law always put his lawn mowings in a big heap where his plum trees grow and they grew very fast, one tree grew from seed to have a very thick trunk in somthing like fifteen years. Another bit of proof that plans love organic matter.  agri rose macaskie.

Keep in mind that Peaches flower very early.
The early flowering might atttract many bees as it may be the
only source of nectar at the time.
Consider a Nectarine or a Plum as they too flower early
and together they may attract more bees.

i'd love to Rose but it is illegal to send seeds outside of US territories unless you are a certified seed person..although I have sneaked some into Canada I would not try to send them to Europe

Stinging nettle is great for peaches and nectarines. It prevents moulding of them, and of course is also a dynamic accumulator, insectary, and makes excellent tea.

rose macaskie wrote:    I 
Does anyone have usefull information on how to reduce or stop peach tree curl? Are there plants or fungi companions that could help with that? agri rose macaskie.

heart in a gardening class from a long time gardener that planting garlic under peach trees prevents leaf curl.

read a lot this year and saw that there is a replant diseas that affects peaches so don't plant near other prunus, also there seems to be a problem with nightshades nearby and strawberries as they carry diseases that affect peaches

Rose, I read this week that most peach trees and other stone fruits have a tendency to come true from planting the pits..in some cases..so you might want to try some from your local market

Brenda Groth wrote:i'd love to Rose but it is illegal to send seeds outside of US territories unless you are a certified seed person..although I have sneaked some into Canada I would not try to send them to Europe

I think the worst that will happen is that the package is confiscated.

Blueberries can be picky about what grows by them....Cranberries do well and white clover as a living mulch does well and fixes N

Kind of off topic but since we're talking Blueberries.

ON Blueberries: I have a large 100 x 75 ft (at least) area of low bush blueberries that has grown a very nice crop of berries for the last few years. Previous to me purchasing the land 3 years ago, the whole field was bush hogged every year, which never gave the berries a chance to fruit. There is a lot of grasses, some blackberry, various scrubby plants and some low roses mixed in with the blueberries now. My concern is that the blueberries will eventually succumb to the competition. I could spend all year pulling out the competition but that would probably disturb the roots of the blueberries. I know many people burn their blueberry fields every few years but that's not really possible here and I'm not really into burning anyway. Considering that there are other tasks to undertake around the property, I'm looking for a relatively cheap and quick (within reason) solution. My main concern is keeping as many of the blueberries producing. I harvest enough berries every year to eat them in some form (jelly, fresh, frozen, dried) every day.

Does anyone have any advice on what I could do in this situation?

Craig, this is a way late response but you could get some straw or old hay and mulch thick around your blueberries to keep the weeds away.