Fruit Growers are fond of saying “Every year is different.”  And there is some truth to that.  Like last year, March was significantly cooler than February, which is highly unusual.  The mean temperature on our farm was actually 4 degrees LOWER in March than February.  But April has also been well below normal.  Many years, we are deep into the bloom season by now, but this year, the only growth on the trees occurred last week when we had 3 days that were nearly 20 degrees above normal.  The apple trees took the opportunity to grow an amazing 1.5″ of leaves in just two days.

And now the trees are shivering with expected lows below freezing.  The apricots have already bloomed, the plums are just past peak, and some varieties of peaches are blooming.  So a freeze tonight will likely take some of the fruit, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since we spend a lot of time thinning extra fruit anyway.

Strawberries are running way behind schedule.  It seems likely to me that we will miss our usual Memorial Day opening this year.  In fact, based on the short term forecast, we might not be open by the weekend after that.

Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.  But normal would be nice for a change.