lilacs:

Just set them on the counter until they soften up a bit. They should be pretty good if they already have some aroma.

Have you read the posts about squirrel control? If you could eliminate most of the ones nearby it might save part of your crop.

The Fruitnut

If you order tree netting, pellet guns or Havahart traps now..it will be too late to stop the furry thieves! Serve up peanut butter Bon Bons tonight!

Lilacs:

I'm with Ace and the Fruitnut. Don't just do something, stand there!

Your peaches will be much better if you can leave them a lot longer on the tree. Peaches picked prematurely never achieve the sweetness and flavor of homegrown peaches, not to mention the texture.

Get out ASAP and try to find some plaster of paris at a craft store. You don't need much. Carefully blend 1/2 cup PoP with 1/2 cup tasty peanut butter with a fork in a cereal bowl. If too dry, add a tiny bit of cooking oil. You will be able to form about 2 dozen bonbons with this mixture.

Set them out in the evening in a convenient spot near your peach tree. By the following morning, most of them will be gone and so will the squirrels.

A few will eventually trickle in from neighboring properties over the next few weeks, but in vastly reduced numbers.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I intend to leave the peaches on the tree, but I was asking about the ones that fall a little prematurely. Will they ripen up to be edible and useable?

Lilacs:

Depends on your definition of "usable". They will not taste like tree ripened peaches if they are not tree ripened. But they will soften up on your counter and you can eat them. Maybe make peach pickles.

Don Yellman, Great Falls VA

Lilacs of May -- like Don said, it depends upon your definition of "useable" and "good" but they probably won't be any WORSE than the sorry things sold at the grocery store. It just depends on how close they were to being ripe when they were knocked off.

Oh, crickey, though, please, everyone, not another SQUIRREL FLAME WAR! Been there, done that!

I guess I'll leave a few on my kitchen counter and then bite into one when it softens up. If it's a real spitter, then I have my answer.

hmm, dh says our walnut tree is a decoy for the squirrels and that's why they've been leaving our peaches alone (at least for now, knock on wood, cross fingers,...)

kandituft, there really is some truth to that. Most of my peach harvest for the last three years has been with my late peaches because the squirrels have largely moved on to nuts by now. Today I harvested most of my Indian Cling peaches which the squirrels did not even touch. That tree is next to my Belle of Georgia and Carolina Belle which were cleared of a bushel of peaches several weeks ago by the squirrels. These mid-season peaches are the hardest for me to defend, after the mulberries but before the nuts. I still have one squirrel after my O'Henry peach tree in the front yard, but he is only stopping by every now and then and getting only a few peaches.

Scott

I tried a fallen peach today. One side was bruised and green. I cut it off but took a couple bites out of the orange, aromatic side. Definitely tasted of peach. Sweet and ripe. They're almost ready.

In aggravation, I've been throwing fallen peaches at the squirrels. They'll sit right above me in the tree and steal peaches. But I'm not a very good shot, and they know that.

They're so taken with the peach tree that they're even ignoring the bird feeder.