Even with the cold couple of nights we just had in the Finger Lakes, the trees and bushes still look good.  The plums are either in petal fall or will be this weekend.  The Hungarian cherries are in full bloom as are the most of the pears.  The apples are in king bloom, except for a few really early varieties that are almost in full bloom ( Egremont Russet, St. Edmund’s Russet and Ashmead’s Kernel).  Of course the cider apples are just starting to wake up.  The currants are at the end of their bloom and the gooseberries are in full bloom.  It looks like we could have a huge crop of Ribes!  We planted 50 peach trees today, which will be trained in the “perpendicular V” method (what a plant nerd) allowing the peaches to be planted 54 inches between trees.

The Edith B. Ford Memorial Library in Ovid will be having a plant sale on Saturday May 1st from 10am to 2pm.  There will be a barbecue by 4h, plants from local farms, divided perennials from local gardeners, fruit trees from Daring Drake, music by Kevin Moss (Cornell Plantation’s great story teller), children’s plant activities, bake sale and a trunk display of quilts by Mary Diamond.  I’m sure I forgot half of the stuff.  All proceeds go to funding the library’s programs and book purchases.  Hope to see you there!

Pear bloom (cv. Moonglow)

Red Fleshed Apple flowers (cv. Firecracker)

Apple bloom (cv. Egremont Russet)

Red Currant flowers ("wild" seedling on our property)

While we couldn’t get any of the bumblebees to hold still for a photo, they are out there working.  The plums, peaches, and cherries are in full bloom.  The apples will not be far behind.  We are planting 50 peach trees that are due to arrive this week along with gooseberries, currants, blackberries, raspberries, and apple trees.  Plenty of weeding to keep up on.

It looks like we had a low of 28f in parts of the orchard last night.  This temperature is on the edge, but most of the blossoms should be fine and if a few did perish that would not be a big loss.   Maybe the extended season will happen after all.

Friday the 9th turned out to be warmer than predicted, so no problem with the blooms.  As of today, Tuesday the 13th, we now have pluots, asian plums, american plums and european plums in bloom.  The pears are close to bloom and most of the Ribes are close with a few varieties of gooseberries starting to bloom.  No problem with the Ribes, they can handle 24f to25f and have limited damage to bloom.  Plum blossoms can only handle temperatures down to 28f to 29f.  Once the fruit sets they can handle lower temperatures.  So I’m writing this blog at 11pm waiting for the low temp. and possible frost after midnight.  The temperatures are actually supposed to begin to rise after about 2am, so the critical period is 12am to 2pm.  So while having a cider and downloading some pictures from the digital camera, I wish some of the warmth from the pruning pile we burned on Sunday night would radiate off these pictures and out into the orchard.

While the humans have been frolicing in the warm early spring weather soaking up the sun, so have the plants who we wish had just stayed dormant a little longer. 

So the last post was a bit of an understatement.  With some new calculations, we seem to be about 15 days ahead of 2009 here at Daring Drake Farm.  On Wednesday we had the asian plums starting to bloom and now on Friday we have a few blossoms opening on the american plums.  The day time temperatures are not as conducive to insect pollination, but that will probably not be a real problem.  The potential low temperatures tonight and early next week could be a bad thing.  Hope for a nice steady wind over night and a low above freezing.  Once the fruit sets it is less of a problem.  Spring is always an interesting time.

The gooseberries have been pruned and tied to their trellis, ending this chore for the year. 

We have also planted out hundreds of pear and apple rootstocks in the field.  We will bud these in August and are taking orders for custom trees.  What a team!

We are trying to keep ahead of all the early spring chores and cleanup.  The weather seems to have put us ahead by about 8-10 days compared to normal.  This can be scary for early blooms and frosts, but could also just give us an extended season.  Growing fruit in the Finger Lakes is always a nail biting experience (how else would you know your alive).  We’ll keep you posted.