Heat came to the orchard today. At 5 PM it was 73F. The apple buds are still locked up tight, but it won’t be long. Farther south the trees are opening up. It’s beautiful there this time of year, but there’s a risk behind that early bloom. April is a month of temperature swings. Here in central Maine, these swings are—knock on wood—not that big a deal. Two or three hundred miles south of here, they are. One night of temps in the low 20’s when the trees are in bloom can wipe out this year’s crop. We won’t be in bloom for another month (we hope). That’s a delay that often works to our advantage. When those inevitable spring swings come through and the temperatures crash to 22F, we’re happy the trees are still asleep.

Old apples trees near Cortez, CO, March, 2020

Orchard friends in in Cortez, CO told me that temps tonight are predicted in the low 20’s in their region. That could be a big bummer for the apple crop out there. Gotta love our late spring. We don’t get too many days like today, and we should be happy we don’t. The flowers and the leaves will come. And we’ll have all of July and August to run around in bare feet and T-shirts and go jumping in the lake. Now is the time to kick back and soak up the cold and damp and dreary.