I wrote in my last vineyard blog 78, that I’d ordered 100 new replacement vines – 50 Solaris and 50 of the new wonder Swiss variety – Divico. Unfortunate name but if it does well in our rather unique setting then who cares how silly its name is.
Anyway the point is that they, and an additional 25 (courtesy of my neighbour in Nidderdale who over-ordered), are in the ground. We planted them the week before last after several weeks of what might fairly be called drought. Pretty much the same conditions as last year and it was to the drought that year that I attributed the demise of the new vines I planted then.
This time I went to some trouble to make sure the ground was watered and that we watered the vines again when they were in the ground. Incidentally they don’t have either tubes or canes. The former because I’m gambling that the rabbit fence, newly installed by Brian last year at some expense, will provide all the protection they need. And the second because they’re not grown enough to require any suppor t.
I said to my man as we headed back to Leeds after three quite full-on days of planting (and watering), if it doesn’t rain by Wednesday can you water them. I even had our rain tank topped up by my farmer neighbour to facilitate this. What’s that saying – be careful what you wish for, you might just get it, or words to that effect.
My parting words to him were, it would be nice to have some rain to get the vines off to a good start. He agreed that all the farmers in the dale were hoping for the same. Ha, well as I write this, it’s persisting it down and has been for the last few days with, according to our phones, plenty more on the way. How long will it be before we’re complaining about too much rain and worrying about flooding?
For farming and vine-growing alike, the weather is a tricky and capricious (nice word) factor in our success. It’s never quite right. If a person were determined to look on the negative side then look no further than the number of frosts we’ve had. Apparently April has just set the record for the most frosts in that month – ever.
I know I’m pushing my luck when I say this but frosts, although a problem for us, are actually quite low on the list of threats to the vines. That’s because the vineyard, as you know, is on a significant slope. This means the frost rolls on by. That’s helped if we keep the grass short. Our man, Brian, has cut the grass recently so fingers crossed we’ve at least minimised this threat.
I found him a disappointed man when we went up there that last but one week. He’d always wanted a ride-on mower and his son-in-law had found him one and he was thrilled. But it did not work. Not because, as I thought, the slope was too steep and he’d fallen off but rather because the blades of the mower were set too low for the uneven terrain and he couldn’t adjust them.
I think he will keep looking however and I will gladly buy him whatever he requires just to keep him sweet. Funny what you’ll do for others when you wouldn’t indulge yourself in the same way. Like my friend who bought his cleaner a portable Dyson vacuum for their stairs, to keep her sweet. Didn’t work apparently, she left a week later. You just can’t please some people. That said, I do need to please Brian because he’s invaluable. He does all those jobs I don’t want to do and seemingly enjoys it.
Back to our vineyard challenges. Have we really removed the rabbits as a threat? They may not be inside the fence, which is what we require of course, but they are massing (just peek over the wall) in neighbouring fields, waiting for a breach in our defences to pour through. The vines when newly planted are quite unimpressive looking, just a stick poking out of the ground, so it might take a while to notice if they have been chewed. In the past, before the fence, it was the mature ones that were nibbled all the way round, their trunks that were most noticeable – and dispiriting.
Talking of which it still a little soon to be certain but it does not look as if our strategy of cutting the trunk-disease affected vines has worked. They look dead with no signs of any new shoots on what’s left. Of course if they do re-generate then the vineyard will be a tad crowded given the 125 new vines I’ve put in, some of them in the same spot as the disease-affected ones.
But aren’t you taking a risk putting them in the same place as where the last occupant of that spot expired? Good question, but we’re told by our agronomist that the disease is air-borne rather than ground-transmitted. So theoretically / logically …. As usual with life in our vineyard, watch this space.
To finish, I think I’ve agreed our role on the Yorkshire Wine Trail website but that will be a while before we know whether we’ve hit on a suitable compromise. So once again, I say, watch this space for more exciting developments in the Trapping Hill vineyard.