More vineyards in Ireland

The Journal.ie reported on the vineyards producing the nectar of the gods in the land of Guinness in 2015. They covered some of the more well-known vineyards. UK Vineyard report lists a few more, including ours - Daria's Vineyard. Ireland has a drop in the bucket compared with the UK nowadays. Last year, we recorded bud burst on the 15th of April. 

• Lusca Vineyard - Dublin
• Wellingtonbridge Vineyard - Wexford
• Viking Irish Drinks (Dennison's Vyd) - Waterford
• Ballydrehid House Estate Vineyard - Tipperary
• Watergrass Vineyard - Cork
• Daria's Vineyard - Mayo

We report bud burst to them, but not yet. I checked today and, although the Rondo is getting close, I wouldn't call burst just yet. I'd say we are at late bud swell. The good news is that it appears that the Albarino vines are alive. They really did appear dead a couple of weeks ago but now they have fresh-looking buds. Yippee!

By the way, our honey bees have been very active. I expect the orchard and vineyard to bear lots of fruit this year. Although grapevines are hermaphroditic and self-pollinate, bees are very important in maintaining a healthy organic ecosystem in the vineyard. Many people don't realise just how important they can be. Of course, they can also go after the sweet juices of the grapes if their foraging isn't supported otherwise. If we practice organic biodynamic husbandry, then everything should maintain its equilibrium. 

Rondo

Solaris

Chardonnay

Pinot noir

Albarino

Happy St. Daria's Day by the Julian Calendar. Alex says it's fitting that my name day should come on April Fool's Day!

Native black honeybee

Pruning the orchard

Ghost assisting with pruning in the orchard

This week, we finally got a break in the weather. So I undertook the pruning of the orchard this year whereas Alex had done it last year. The new feral kitty that adopted us this winter was very helpful. She loves climbing trees and mimics everything I do. She chewed the ends off branches and caught falling branches to stack in a pile. 

I have one more tree to prune. The daffodils are up, the native honey bees and bumbles are awake and loving the heather, the skies have been amazing. No complaints. 

Spring work is nearing completion

Alex has almost completed the overhead pergola construction under the first 10 vines that reach 5 years of age this year. A few days ago, he cemented in the major support posts. On Saturday, he installed the cross poles. Very elegantly bent to shape so the tractor-that-we-do-not-yet-have can get around the corner.

Pollinators and grapes

The headlines last month were dire. "Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'" warned The Guardian. "The rate of insect extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds, and reptiles." That is such a definitive and frightening statement. 

The analysis of 73 historical reports, published in the journal Biological Conservation, concludes that intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides.  They provide a few highlights of the exhaustive analysis:

Highlights

• Over 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction.
• Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and dung beetles (Coleoptera) are the taxa most affected.
• Four aquatic taxa are imperiled and have already lost a large proportion of species.
• Habitat loss by conversion to intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines.
• Agro-chemical pollutants, invasive species and climate change are additional causes.

Where have the bees gone?

It appears that our bees have died. There is collapse of hives being reported all over Ireland this winter. The beekeepers remove the box and find dead bees clustered and the honey untouched. They are thinking that it was the wet summer and cool wet winter that caused disease to kill them off. Up to 50% loss and more being reported. Tragic!

But that spells disaster for our orchard and vineyard.  There are plenty of bumblebees. I saw one wasp and quite a few flies, but the fruit trees are laden with flowers that, for the first time since planting, have not been blown off by hurricane force winds. So I went out with an artist's brush this afternoon and pretended to be a bee.

I had seen an article about the Chinese pollinating their crops by hand because of the collapse of their bees and other insects. So I decided to try the same. I don't know if what I am doing will have any effect but I have to try.

 Meanwhile the grapes have not yet unfurled their leaves as it has been cold. But signs of life continue and hope remains eternal. We'll see what this foray into food production will yield this year.

We had one good year with a bumper crop of apples (2014). One bad year with nothing of note, no apples, one mini-pear, and a few cherries eaten by the birds just as they ripened. Growing food is not easy. I wouldn't want to have to depend on it.

Signs of life

In my last post, I said winter was over. But it had only just begun. Now in April, we've had brilliant sunshine but frost almost daily. 

Our experimental grape vines seem to have survived the winter.  They have not leafed but are budding strongly.  Hope!

The weather has been very strange. The winter was mild but very wet and stormy. Then the cold snap came just before most things started budding.  A few garden plants didn't survive but I am hopeful that the cold was enough to harden the grape vines. They need a bit of cold weather to shock them into action.The last week has been blissfully sunny with no rain at all. How very strange. We went from 3 degrees C to 18.5 degrees centigrade overnight. Now it's back down to 3 degrees again as we cycle within a huge anticyclone and the winds clock between northerly and southerly.

The fruit trees are laden with flower buds ready to burst open, but there is no sign of the honey bees. The hive appears to be dead. How sad, how very very sad. Especially after reading the astonishing novel called The Bees. I couldn't wait to watch them this year having studied their behaviour and read this profoundly influential story. But only bumble bees have appeared in our garden. What will we do?  There is word of hives having collapsed all over the country, thought to be the aftermath of an extraordinarily wet and cool summer that never came last year.

Meanwhile the climate change reports indicate that globally March was once again the hottest month on record (not here!) and the 11th consecutive month of increasing temperatures. According to data from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the average global temperatures were 1.07 °C (1.9°F) above the average in March since records began in 1891. Data released by NASA shows that March was 1.65°C (3.0°F) warmer than the averages between 1951 and 1980.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the primary keeper of such data in the U.S., reported even more dire news. "The average global temperature across land surfaces was 2.33°C (4.19°F) above the 20^th century average of 3.2°C (37.8°F), the highest March temperature on record, surpassing the previous March record set in 2008 by 0.43°C (0.77°F) and surpassing the all-time single-month record set last month by 0.02°C (0.04°F). The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for March 2016 was the highest for this month in the 1880–2016 record, at 1.22°C (2.20°F) above the 20^th century average of 12.7°C (54.9°F)."

So according to NOAA's figures, we've already surpassed the 2 degree mark. Anomalies are occurring all over the world.

Meanwhile, last month we visited the Chiltern Valley Winery & Brewery near Henley in England and learned all about small winery viticulture in the UK. They had just pulled up all their grapes and replanted with new varieties. Their wines are quite interesting but they produce mainly with other growers' fruit. We learned principally that it takes a fair bit of investment to get a little operation going and so it's best to produce small quantities of liqueurs. We also learned that we planted the vines in the wrong orientation (up and down the hill instead of across the hill facing the sun).  It was great fun, the guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining, and fun was had by all.

Now let's get back to growing grapes.