Flowering has begun

Flower clusters on Rondo vines

Well, May was a strange month. Much cooler than normal. Only 11.7°C degrees mean air temperature compared with the three prior years being about 13°C. And whereas it started out dryer, it ended wetter at 112.5 mm compared with 60-70 mm in the last three years. These values are reported for Newport, only 7 miles away and on the water much like we are.  

Wacky weather - dry and hot!

We have had the most extraordinary weather throughout the month of May and now well into June that we have ever experienced here in Ireland. The figures for Newport show a very low figure for rainfall for Newport, the closest town to our location. There were at least two weeks straight with no rainfall at all. Extraordinary. We were watering the vegetable and flower gardens but not the vineyard. Grape vines are supposed to like dry and hot.