Peach of a crop for former lorry driver

RETIRED Dairygold lorry driver Mike Condon believes he has tasted success of a unique kind in his garden.

He has produced the only peach crop in the country this year, having taken measures to protect his tree from the rain and painting pollen on the peach flowers.

Mike, from Pallasgreen, Co Limerick, said: “I have made a lot of enquiries to see if I am the only one with a crop and from responses around the country, I believe I am.

“It’s the best crop I have had since I planted a little seed in the garden 10 years ago.”

With a huge decline in the bee population, Mike has managed to do their work for them.

He explained: “When the tree comes into blossom I go around the little blossoms with a tiny paint brush and I pollinate each little flower.

“It takes two to three days to do the entire tree. I take the pollen from one flower to another, so basically I am mimicking a bee. It’s painstaking work.”

And some of the top restaurants in Limerick buy some of his crop.

Peach trees grow in warm dry conditions so Mike has protected the tree from the summer rain by erecting a sheet of polythene over it.

The retired truck driver, meanwhile, travels to India twice a year to do voluntary work with orphanages.

Visitors to his garden at Kilduff, Pallasgreen, can buy his peaches and the donations for the fruit go to an India orphanage fund.

Mike said: “I’ve seen four-year-olds in Mumbai running along in traffic six lanes wide tapping on car windows trying to get money. They live in cardboard boxes and it’s worse than that film Slumdog Millionaire.”