Friday, April 24, 2009

New Growth

The day before I leave for a week, the vines are on the border of needing their first PM prevention spray of organic stylet oil. So, I mixed up a 1% solution (a bit lower than my usual 1.5% mix) and sprayed vines with at least some shoots over the 6" guideline. Vacation is when terrible things happen in vineyards, so we'll hope my week off doesn't lead deer breaking in and gobbling up the new growth.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Vetch clearing

Our cover crop, which started as some vetch, poppies, periennial grasses, and things that aren't helpful, has year-by-year been taken over by vetch. Vetch is a great bonus to the soil, as it adds nitrogen without the use of chemical fertilizer or other sources (steer manure anyone?).

The speed at which it's spreading is alarming however, and it's so happy this year it decided to take on the vines. So, I've decided to pull near the vines themselves, but let it do its thing in between the rows. It's pretty easy to pull, especially since we apparently want to leave the roots in the soil, as they have nodules that will add a slow, steady stream of nitrogen to the vines. That said, I probably hauled 50 or so bundles into a giant compost pile.

As far as the invasiveness, hmm well I may have my CNPS (Native Plant Society) membership revoked. Makes me wonder how many times native plant people have gotten into fights with organic gardeners.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

When poppies compete


This super sturdy Orange flower appeared within a thick bunch of vetch - upon closer inspection I found a huge California poppy!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter Sunday

Slowly growing; I've got my eye on that cover crop that seems to be taking over; but for now I'm off to prep for Easter with the nieces & nephews.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Row 6

A closeup of growth so far. Yeay to new vines!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bud Break on the Hill

We're calling it! Bud break is here at Overlook Vineyards - over half of the vines have itty bitty leaves. Last year it progressed from the bottom of the hill to top; this year we pruned on the late side, plus we started pruning at the top of the hill moving to the bottom over a 3-4 week period. This may have contributed to bud break happening a bit more consistently.

The winter was odd - unseasonably warm and dry through January, but then come mid-February we got hit with above-average rainfall, then relatively cool temps in March. Not sure if this confused the poor vines. I'm also letting our cover crop (mostly vetch) go a bit crazy; not sure if that's contributing to a later bud break compared to last year.