Spring in the Ambrosia Apple Orchards

Ambrosia apple blossomsAfter a long, wet winter, spring is finally springing in BC Ambrosia orchards! Our farmers are starting to see small buds on the trees, and their hard work of winter pruning is starting to pay off for this year’s crop. 

Spring is crucial for all farmers, and especially for our Ambrosia apple orchardists. Farming is hard work but in the Spring Mother Nature helps out – by way of the bees and other pollinators –  provided that the orchard was properly prepared in the Winter.

It’s time for our Ambrosia farmers to attract desirable insects by providing a suitable habitat and food plants. Affable insects help with pollination, and several of them also hunt aphids and other pests. Solitary bees, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybirds, earwigs, ground beetles and even bats, are every orchardist’s friend.

Spring is also a good time for grafting, or propagating trees, and after a few weeks, if done correctly, new buds will start to form from the process.

Mulching is an important step in the Spring development process. The farmers add a layer of bulky, organic material around the base of each tree, which slows weed growth during the growing season. A good mulch layer will also help to retain moisture in the soil for healthy root growth and ensure good soil to feed the Ambrosia apple trees. 

Mother Nature, with the help of our experienced farmers, is hard at work now to ensure that only the best Ambrosia apples will be on your table this Fall.

Want to see some Spring farming in action? Check out our Life of an Apple page. 

And, though it’s a little early for Apple Blossoms, we thought you’d enjoy this poem, which conjures images of BC Ambrosia apple orchards in the Spring:

Apple Blossoms

  by: William Wilsey Martin (1833-1913)

Have you seen an apple orchard in the spring?
In the spring?
An English apple orchard in the spring?
When the spreading trees are hoary
With their wealth of promise-glory,
And the mavis pipes his story
In the spring!

Have you plucked the apple blossoms in the spring?
In the spring?
And caught their subtle odors in the spring?
Pink buds pouting at the light,
Crumpled petals baby-white,
Just to touch them–a delight!
In the spring!

Have you walk’d beneath the blossoms in the spring?
In the spring?
Beneath the apple blossoms in the spring?
When the pink cascades are falling,
And the silver brooklets brawling,
And the cuckoo bird is calling,
In the spring!

Have you seen a merry bridal in the spring?
In the spring?
In an English apple-county in the spring?
When the bride and maidens wear
Apple blossoms in their hair,
Apple blossoms everywhere
In the spring!

If you have not, then you know not, in the spring,
In the spring!
Half the color, beauty, wonder of the spring.
No sweet sight can I remember
Half so precious, half so tender,
As the apple blossoms render
In the spring!

 

 

Ambrosia Apples