The year can be thought of as a cycle. We will start the year in the orchard with Spring, the season of rebirth. When Spring arrives it seems as though dozens of tasks need to be done at once to get ready for the growing season. Pruning which has been going on all winter needs to be finished. Brush which has accumulated beneath the trees as a result of pruning is raked into row centers and chopped or pushed into piles and burned.
Fertilizer is spread underneath every tree according to leaf and soil analysis.
New trees are planted. Scion wood from desirable varieties may be grafted to existing trees of less desirable varieties as a quick way of making the varietal change. Then comes bloom, the real beginning of the apple growing process and an event that excites the veteran grower and the novice alike. We depend upon bees to carry pollen from one flower to the next so that apples will develop. With most varieties pollen must come from a different variety in order to get a good fruit set.