I’ve been working on the Plot #79 Orchard this past week – pruning, re-staking, tying in – so I’ve been able to keep a close eye on the trees’ blossom and leaf buds. After a few days of relatively warm weather some of them are almost ready to burst into renewed life, as you can see:
Part of me absolutely cannot wait for the annual display of flower to shine out across the plot. But another part of me is rather worried; worried that the blossom could be coming in just a bit too early, that April is just around the corner, that a late frost in May 2021 wiped out our plum and pear blossom, that if the trees do all start to bloom in the next week or two and the weather takes a turn for the worse, we could lose a lot of this year’s potential crop as well, that the pollinator populations are lagging behind, that the flowers could be over before the various bee species have done their work for us…
Such is the orchardists’ lot at this time of year. Longing and fretting, hoping and dreading.
So: fingers firmly crossed for a slow, steady ascent into a mild spring. At this point in time it’s about all we can do.