May 1st!

It is always a relief to reach the end of April without being troubled by early morning frosts. Remember, the temperatures usually seen on weather forecaster’s maps are normally for towns, or cities. Temperatures in rural areas invariably dip lower, often a lot lower between 4am and 6am!

We arrive in May with soft land underfoot, another plus.

Temperatures during daytime are a bit low for the the time of year, also a little cool for hive bees though our Bumble bee population is emerging and foraging. Even the Cuckoo are a few days later this year.

Blossoming of the individual varieties is reflecting the cool weather and probable cool soil temperatures at tree root level – several days later than our very long term average. One point to watch is if our main pollinator varieties will coincide with Cox and Kidd’s Orange Red. We may need to distribute bouquets of different, suitable varieties to supplement Worcester Pearmain, which are late bloomers. in containers of water to help with pollen distribution.

Enquiries are already coming in from readers seeking employment. This is a small orchard with existing part time employees so we have no need for extra labour – thank you for your enquiries.

My three year old neighbour is already asking for apples! A fair bit of water to flow, we hope, under bridges before we have some. Good to see the younger generation keeping an eye out for flavour.

Below a photograph of the same Ribston Pippin tree shown in the previous post, followed by a photograph of Discovery – both taken today.