Get ready for a bumper crop of peaches

What a difference a year makes. A milder winter and ideal growing conditions during the spring have helped produce a very healthy peach crop, perhaps a record one, says Chris Eckert, president of Eckert’s Orchards in Belleville.

Last year, freeze damage wiped out more than half of the farm’s peach crop.

To its benefit, the family-owned orchard also has upped the number of peach trees grown and expects to harvest about 90,000 bushels of peaches this year compared with about 70,000 bushels in a typical year.

And if you want more than peaches, the growing conditions have been ideal for blackberries, too, which also are producing a bumper crop. The orchard grows its thornless berries on a trellis system, making then easier to be picked.

Pick-your-own peaches ($1.29/pound) begins Tuesday at the Belleville Farm. Available now are pick-your-own blackberries ($3.49/pound) and pick-your-own vegetables, $10 /half peck, $15/whole peck and $20/half bushel. Vegetable varieties include sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, peppers, squash, zucchini and kale. Varieties can be mixed and matched.

Go to the Crop Update at eckerts.com for information on crop availability and pick-your-own hours.

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Get ready for a bumper crop of peaches."