Peach also known as Prunus persica is a deciduous tree that produces fruits. Peaches originated from China and has spread Westward through Asia to the Mediterranean region. Peaches have red, orange or pink skin covering white or yellow flesh.
They are considered stone fruits because they have a hard pit inside that covers the seed. Peaches can be classified into three categories; -Cling stone peach.
With this kind of peach, the flesh clings tightly to the pit. This type has a bright yellow flesh with flecks of red nearer the stone. It's sweeter and juicier.
- Free stone. With free stone peach , the stone is easily separated from the flesh.
- Semi-free stone or semi cling stone. This is the hybrid of free stone and cling stone. Peaches are rich in vitamin A and C, Potassium and antioxidants.
Peaches are beneficial to health as it prevent cancer through antioxidants properties, improve health conditions due to the presence of potassium.
How To Grow Peach Trees From Seed 
To grow peach tree, we must first identify the climate and soil that favors the growth of peach trees. Peach tree grows well in climates with hot summers and winter temperatures colder than . Choose the type of peach tree to grow according to your climate.
Peach trees are planted in late winter or early spring. They are grown in sunny, sheltered locations that are slightly elevated where frost won't settle. They are grown in sandy and well drained soils.
A. Collection And Preparation Of Seeds.
When growing peach trees from seed it takes three to four years to produce fruits. To grow peach trees from seed, choose well ripe peaches that have good flavor and sweetness.
After enjoying the fruits, clean the pits with brush and water and keep them in a well ventilated area to dry. When they are dry, keep them until when you ready to plant them. When it's time to plant, carefully use nut crackers to crack the pit and remove the seeds.
Though it can be planted like that without cracking the pits but it germinates faster when the seeds are removed. Soak the seeds overnight in a room temperature water then Place the seeds in a plastic bag fill it with moist potting soil then place the bag in the refrigerator for germination. Between one to three months check regularly for germination.
When the seeds have developed roots, remove from the refrigerator. Keep the seedlings in a pot and water to keep the soil moist. Move the seedlings to a sunny area after the last frost in early spring.
B. How To Planting peach trees
Plant the peach trees in well drained soil with an average PH of around 6-6.5. Dig a hole of 3-4 inches deep and twice wide as the tree's root ball.
Place the tree in to the hole and fill it with the soil. Peach trees takes many weeks to develop leaves to look like young trees with good roots.
When they develop leaves, select the ones that are healthy and strong and concentrate on them giving them the best conditions they need to grow well.
How To Care For Peach Tree
1. Watering. Water the tree weekly with at least 2 gallons of water throughout the growing season. Water deeply but infrequently to keep the soil evenly moist.
2. Pruning and maintenance. Prune the tree yearly in early summer when they are three years older. Maintain the tree shape by cutting shoots growing in the center of the tree. Pruning and maintaining the trees promotes healthy growth and fruit production.
3. Fertilization. Apply a balance fertilizer six weeks after planting. Use fertilizer that is high in phosphorus and low in nitrogen.
4. Thin out the smaller peach trees ; After the peach trees have blooms , remove the smaller ones for the bigger ones to receive more nutrients.
5. Control pests and diseases. Peach trees are usually affected by diseases like peach tree borer, peach leaf curl, peach scab. To obtain high crop yield, these pests and diseases can be controlled by using insecticide, fungicide and pesticides.
Common Pests And Diseases
1. Peach scab. It's caused by fungus cladosporium carpophilum.
The symptoms appear in the form of very small, circular spot form on young fruit. It's usually near the stem. Lesion may merge together if disease is severe and fruit may drop in extreme cases. The fungus overwinter in lesion on twigs and in spring produce spores called conidia.
The disease can be unnoticed until the fruit are well grown. To overcome this disease, prune and remove twigs that are infected. The best way to control this disease is to spray the plant with fungicide.
2. Brown rot.
This disease is caused by monilinia fructicola. This disease starts with small circular brown spots that expand in size and eventually to soft brown decay.
Brown rot causes blossom blights, twig blights, twigs cankers. This disease is severe in wet, humid weather. In wet, humid conditions mass ash-gray develop all over the fruit. To control this disease, prune dead and cankered twigs from the tree.
Remove the mummies fruits that are remaining on the tree and the ones on the ground should be raked. Brown rot can also be control by effective spray of fungicide.
3. Peach leafs curl.
It's caused by fungus taphrina deformans. It's common in warm, wet climates. The symptoms of this disease are noticed at the upper side of the peach leaves making effected parts to be absorbed red. The leaves become yellow and fall off.
It also affects the fruits. To control this disease spray the trees with copper- base fungicide
4. Bacteria spot.
Bacteria spot is caused by bacterium xanthomonas arboricola pv. Pruni . This disease affects twigs, leaves and fruits.
It makes tiny purple black lesions on leaf tips and later move to the center of the leaves. Affected leaves become yellow and fall off. On the fruits, bacteria spot shows small round spots.
The infected spots may develop cracks causing fruits to rot. Use copper-base fungicide to spray the leaves when they start falling off.
Harvesting 
When To Harvest peaches
The color of peaches is a great indicator of it maturity. Peaches are ready for harvest when the color change from green to yellow or red. Under ripe fruits can be harvested and kept in the house for it to ripe well.
To make your peaches to ripe faster, put them in a bag and keep it indoors at room temperature. Plastic bags are not recommended for storing peaches.But the fruits would not have good taste and flavor.
So if you want your fruits to have flavor and good taste, keep them longer on the trees to ripe well before harvest but not too long because over ripe fruits reduces the length of storage and increases the possibility of disease.
How To harvest peaches
Hold the ripe peaches gently in your palm and twist it gently while pulling it from the tree. If you pull it and it's difficult to cut off, allow it to ripen again because ripe peaches break from the tree easily. When harvesting ripe peaches be careful to avoid bruising that can leads to decay of the fruits .
How to store peaches
If the peaches you have at hand are many that you can not eat in one sitting, the best place to store is in the fridge. The cool temperature slow down the ripening and prevent it from getting bad.
Peel your peaches and slice them into small pieces and put in a plate and freeze them before transferring them into a freezer bag.
When your peaches are not soft enough for eating, place them on the kitchen counter for heat to make it softer for eating. For peaches that are firm (not ripe) put them in a bag among the ripe ones for it to capture ethylene gas that will make it to ripe faster.
Conclusion
To conclude, growing peach tree can be a rewarding endeavor, offering delicious fruits. To have this delicious fruit with good flavor and taste, you must be dedicated to what ever you are doing in growing these peach trees. You must be able to identify the variety of peach tree that suits the climate you have, prepare the seeds and stratify them for germination and care for the trees by watering them when necessary, pruning dead branches and fertilizing them when necessary.