Today in the orchard
Is it too late to cut scionwood? No! At least not in central Maine and points north and west. The weather has remained blissfully cold, and the apple trees are all breathing a sigh of relief. They love their winter break, and though they’ll never get to the Bahamas, they do get to shut down, relax and do nothing for a nice chunk of time every off-season. It was looking like it was going to get warm a or so week ago, but now the nights are back to below freezing, and many of the days are as well. You’ve got at least a week or maybe two before it’s time to stop collecting twigs and start bench grafting. (We won’t do our outdoor topwork grafting until May.)
Scion Exchange 2017
But if you don’t have time to cut the scions yourself or are looking for something special that you don’t have access to, you’re in luck! MOFGA’s annual Seed Swap and Scion Exchange that was supposed to happen today (March 30) was postponed due to the ice and snow and freezing rain. It’s been rescheduled to Sunday April 6 from noon to 4 PM. There will be scions of hundreds of varieties of apples and other fruits all given away for free. There will be seeds from all sorts of plants. There will be grafting demonstrations, workshops, rootstock for sale and a whole lot more. You don’t need to bring a thing except yourself. Come early—stay late. Hooray for cold weather. Keep it coming. And, hope to see you at the Scion Exchange.
