Once again, we dance and pray for rain

Another beautiful morning in Mayo. 

MONTHLY VALUES FOR NEWPORT UP TO 12-MAY-2020

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2020	139.5	342.8	178.2	25.5	12.2								698.2
2019	146.8	115.0	228.5	100.7	112.5	76.6	82.7	228.9	175.5	160.7	148.1	220.6	1796.6
2018	274.6	155.6	86.2	94.3	70.4	65.9	58.6	179.1	148.3	140.9	172.6	201.0	1647.5
2017	94.3	151.0	216.2	31.1	64.2	108.3	164.0	197.6	153.3	190.1	203.0	179.7	1752.8
mean	166.7	126.5	141.2	96.8	94.7	89.7	100.9	132.5	131.5	176.0	170.4	180.2	1607.1

We are watering our gardens daily now. No rain since the last report of rain on this blog. It continues sunny but this week is cold. Last week was warm. Next week to be warm. Truly bizarre. After the soggiest February when I thought all the plants would drown, we had the driest April, and May continues the trend. Oh, and there's tropical depression forming off the Bahamas. 

The fine weather continues but the drought has broken

Last night, we finally had some rain. More than a centimetre of rain fell overnight, and we've had drizzle for much of the day. Halleluja.

The vines seem okay and all have survived thus far. The first ten are leafing nicely and Alex was able to mow the main row with our lawnmower after strimming it first.

And the donkeys returned yesterday having completed their annual migration down the road and up the hill without a hitch. They seemed happy to be back and loved the new driveway -- no more slipping on the smooth cement.

Met Eireann has not identified our area as having a drought, even though we've had little rain.
https://www.met.ie/climatological-droughts-and-dry-spells-2020

Drought!

I was wondering when we last had rain so I looked it up on Met Eireann.

CLIMATOLOGICAL DROUGHTS AND DRY SPELLS 2020
A partial drought is ongoing at Dublin Airport. The length of this dry period is now at 35 days long with 5.8 mm of rain falling since Wednesday 18 March 2020. Between Wednesday 18 March to Wednesday 1 April 2020, there was 0.0 mm of rainfall recorded every day at that station. Meanwhile new dry spells are ongoing at three stations: 16 days at Claremorris, Co Mayo and 15 days at each of Markree, Co Sligo and Knock Airport, Co Mayo.

We are in County Mayo. We've had to water the garden every day, and it looks like several more days before we get any drops out of the sky. At least the solar-powered fountain has been working well. I hope the vineyard survives this. The rest of the garden is looking pretty fine.

Here's is the full drought statement to date. It's also been quite hot - shorts, T-shirts and flip flops weather. Lots of butterflies and bumblebees. But no honey bees. 

https://www.met.ie/cms/assets/uploads/2020/04/20200421_drought.pdf

Mowing the grass

My lovely little vineyard is getting a much needed sprucing up. Alex is strumming, something he postponed last year. The grass is really thick up there, suggesting that the soil is fairly rich in that parcel of land which has never been tilled as far as we can tell. That means the soil structure has never been disturbed, an interesting thing in this region of farmland managed by the rules that often disturb the natural order of biodiversity.

We had a forecast for rain on Friday evening but the forecast is now showing gorgeous weather for the foreseeable future -- and no rain. Not a drop. Who has ever heard of such a thing out here? Are the vines going to survive without water?  We don't have irrigation set up. Several years ago, you couldn't even buy a sprinkler in Ireland. Things have changed in a hurry.

Alex said over breakfast this morning that he was tired of all the sunshine. He can't allow himself to be inside when it's sunny. That's the hazard of growing up in Ireland. I can't get anything done...if I have to be inside to do it.

Apples getting ready

My new pond

Bud burst bonanza

Pinot Noir bud burst 15-04-2020

Yesterday, the wind went to the south and suddenly our temperatures skyrocketed. We went from winter coats, hats and gloves two days ago to shorts and T-shirts yesterday. Sure enough, we documented bud burst on all varietals planted in our vineyard.

I thought the Rondo looked questionable when Alex took the photo in the morning. When I went into the vineyard to recheck in the afternoon, it had definitely burst. The Chardonnay plants are not looking great and 2 look very questionable. The Albarino are all alive but the buds on them are tiny. Miniscule to be exact. I wonder if the leaves will grow to normal size or not.

I'm really surprised but pleased at how good the Pinot Noir vines look. They are very robust and have substantial buds.

Today the winds have gone northerly again and we're back to very chilly but sunny weather. It has not rained in days and we've been watering the garden but not the vineyard. It's supposed to warm up against tomorrow and rain is forecast for tomorrow night. Let's hope for the best.

Chardonnay bud burst 15-04-2020

Albarino bud burst 15-04-2020 

Rondo bud burst 15-04-2020

Watching for bud burst

Alex was contacted by a company that is keeping track of vineyards and documenting bud burst in vineyards in the British Isles. The first vine to show bud burst in Daria's Vineyard was Solaris and it was reported on the 12th of April. Interestingly, only one vine, the lowest one in the field, demonstrated that. Alex thinks it's because it's at a lower elevation. ;-)

Cold spring amidst global pandemic

Bumblebee in heather during sunny interval

With more than 1M cases of confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 54,000 deaths due to Covid-19 in 200 countries worldwide, suddenly the growing of grapes and making of wine seem rather inconsequential. Then again, it does provide some focus to a somewhat dysfunctional way of living in isolation. As an introvert, I'm quite comfortable on my own. I do worry about the world though.

We've had a most unusual spring this year. The winter was unusually wet and seriously windy. In February, we had more than twice as much rainfall as normal. Early spring was quite warm -- we were able to have lunch outside for days. I kept walking around telling the plant life to slow down and not jump the gun. And now it's been at or below freezing for the past few nights. I've been heading up into the vineyard to check on the vines. Alex had plucked a few buds off on the main stems the day before, but I saw no real activity yesterday.

Sadly, many Albarino vines appear to be dead whereas the Pinot Noir vines look quite healthy but still asleep. Alex thinks some of the new vines drowned in the extremely wet earth.  He did replace some of the other vines that were either whacked by mistake or failed to thrive. I'll just have to keep watching.

The orchard is ready to pop any day now. But it's still cold. The bees come out in every sunny interval. At least I have my new pond. Bring on the frogs.

My new pond with solar fountain.

Meanwhile, I was contacted by a journalist who is doing an article for Cara, the Aer Lingus onboard magazine. David Walsh was to do an interview and Cara would send out a photographer. I said there wasn't much to report as we've not yet had our first grape harvest. He convinced me that my story is interesting and sent me four questions to answer by email. It was actually quite fun to do. We'll see.

Rondo not yet ready

Pinot noir looking encouraging

Albarino looking dead

New vines in place

Plum is the first this year

Cherries getting ready

Apple blossoms about to burst

The birth of a sycamore