Buds are flowering, finally!

 

See the flower spikes sticking out?

I have been checking daily if the vines have flowered. It's been so cold this year. Yesterday, I finally saw evidence of flowers on the Rondo vines, but none on the Solaris yet. In fact, the Solaris seem to have a few buds dying off -- turning black and remaining tiny. Last year, the Rondo started blooming on the 8th of July. This year, not until the 13th. 

It's been a bad year in the food-producing part of the garden. The cold snap after everything started to grow stopped many in their tracks. I think we have two crabapples. Most of the cherries shrivelled and fell off. We have a good number of pears on one tree but the second looks like it's dying. There's definitely a fungus or something affecting the fruit trees and the roses this year, and the aphids were unstoppable. It's so frustrating. 

The new Kubota RTV is working out well. It can mow the vineyard efficiently and effectively. Alex even mowed the rest of the field as it had lots of stuff the donkeys don't like to eat. It also helped move topsoil from the trailer to the polytunnel, although it couldn't pull a full trailer load - but even Lilly, our VW Passat, strained under the full load. We needed two trailer loads of topsoil at €50 each to fill the raised beds. Fortunately, Alex spotted an ad in the local paper for 'quality screened topsoil'. It turned out to be at the MayoCoCo Landfill and it was not screened. Full of shale but good loamy soil. I've been picking through the rocks as we fill the boxes. Apparently, good topsoil is very hard to get here now. 

We are making good progress there. It's getting exciting. I've planted out some of the remaining lettuce seedlings and some tomato plants. I hope they weren't too stressed waiting for transplantation to recover. We have a lot of learning ahead of us as we learn what works in a polytunnel and when. 

Plant sale

 

Third heatwave hits California

Miguel Ramos, of Salem, Oregon, reaches up to pull the leaf canopy over pinot noir grapes on Thursday, July 8, 2021, to shade the fruit from the sun, at Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner, Ore. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky)

People started to prepare for the third record-breaking heatwave of the season throughout the West coast. Workers in several West Coast wineries are trimming less of the leaf canopy to keep the grapes shaded and prevent sunburn.

Temperatures have soared into the triple digits in California, Arizona and Nevada. Hundreds of deaths have been recorded as attributable to the heat. OSHA adopted a heatwave standard to protect outdoor workers from heat-related illness. Oregon and Washington were among the first states to adopt the new OSHA emergency rule for employees working in extreme heat.

Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, TS Elsa, which had been the first hurricane of the season, fizzled as it brought heavy rains and flooding to the US East Coast. Compared to last year, it has been a most unusually quiet season in the Atlantic. It's almost like waiting for the fuse to reach the powder keg. 

Scientists say human-induced climate change is definitely what is causing the West Coasts' disastrous heat and drought. Meanwhile, scientists also believe that anthropomorphic climate change was also at fault of the 'catastrophic' French frost that decimated one-third of the crop in Burgundy, Champagne and the Loire valley. The frost also affected our growing region and everything is about a month late  this year. 

For us, it's been an unusually cold and dry early summer, so the grapes still have not flowered. But everything started growing exponentially last week and the grass definitely benefited from its first trim in a while. Alex is getting used to the new Kubota UTV which purrs along quietly at slow speed. The mower machine is separately petrol-powered and very annoyingly loud. I hope the one we ordered is more environmentally friendly. But now that we have this UTV, Alex has mowed the vineyard, the field, and even deployed the lobster pots using the UTV to deliver them to our boat, Moytura. And the benefits are already evident. 😎

Today's acquisition

The new equipment ('toys') arrived. Just in the nick of time. The grass in the vineyard is about as tall as my legs. Ghost won't go in that field anymore. She'd disappear. 

The quad is gorgeous. Kubota. It fits in the polytunnel. 

The grass mower is borrowed as it's hard to get new equipment in right now as a result of Covid and Brexit. It may take weeks to get the one Alex ordered. Scary looking thing. 

The donkeys stopped by and I gave them a little treat today. Carrots! They were happy. 

Fires & drought plague the US west coast

Russian River

A major heatwave hit the entire west coast of America last week and was even worse than predicted when a heat dome settled in.  It exacerbated what was already one of the most severe droughts in the region, prompting experts to warn that this could be the worst wildfire season ever. 

The Salt Fire north of Redding California near the Oregon border has consumed more than 11,000 acres and numerous homes and structures. But there are many more fires raging in all the states affected. Authorities warned not to set off fireworks for July 4th celebrations. 

The Russian River Valley where much of California's wine industry is situated is under extreme pressure. The Russian River serves as the main source of drinking water for more than 600,000 people in Sonoma, Mendocino and northern Marin counties. Some of the richest farmland in the nation is being left fallow because the water is running out. 

But it's not just California. Oregon's Williamette Valley suffered unprecedented extreme heat during the heat wave. No one knows how grapes will fare under these conditions. They are hoping that it is early enough in the season for the grapes to be able to withstand it, but Pinot Noir is particularly sensitive to heat. Most of the region grows cool climate grapes, and temperatures were 25 to 30 degrees above normal. 

This is what climate change looks like. 

Polytunnel Progressing

Farmhouse sink installation is going well. It will have shelves above it and below. 

The construction site is very active with tools, wood, lots of screws, and a cat rolling on the dirt floor. I've been even-ing out the floor. It's slow going but we're getting there. 

The new sign is lovely and durable and the sink is ready to use. My DH is a handyman. Now that we have water I can start bringing in some plants. 

Next, we need the topsoil for the raised beds. So exciting. And also black matting and gravel for the 'seating area' and paths. 

And today, I accessed the funds for the quad and mower. Yes!

Happy July 4th!

Can you believe it's July? I still haven't taken out the kayak because it's been so cold. Yet the numbers show that our temperature average was, well, average. Yet I remember last year being so much warmer. The vines have grown but the flowers still have not opened. Last year, I noted bloom on July 8. We still have a few days to catch up. 

Our rainfall total for June is quite low again and significantly less than last year but similar to 2018. The truth is that the variability of our climate is increasing. Better than the record heat along the West coast of the states. 

I've noted that we have an extraordinary number of clusters so I have to learn how to reduce the number to improve the yield. It's always something. 

MONTHLY VALUES FOR NEWPORT UP TO 03-JUL-2021

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	225.6	147.6	141.1	45.6	113.5	64.1	9.0						746.5
2020	139.5	342.8	178.2	25.5	54.7	164.5	187.9	137.9	153.4	228.0	206.6	232.7	2051.7
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
LTA	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

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	5.0	6.7	7.9	9.0	10.4	13.3	15.4						8.8
2020	7.2	6.0	6.6	11.0	12.8	13.8	14.4	16.0	13.8	10.5	9.1	6.1	10.6
2019	6.9	8.4	7.9	10.2	11.7	13.1	16.3	15.5	13.7	10.3	7.1	7.1	10.7
2018	5.9	4.6	5.5	9.1	13.1	16.1	16.1	15.0	12.4	10.9	8.3	8.1	10.5
LTA	6.1	6.1	7.3	9.0	11.5	13.8	15.4	15.4	13.5	10.8	8.3	6.5	10.3

Note on the orchard. The new peach tree has one set of leaves, the apples have very few apples, the cherries are shrivelling and dropping off (I think they have leaf curl fungus), one cherry is dying completely most likely due to canker and there are few crabapples and no plums. Only the pear tree is doing okay.

The peach tree in the greenhouse definitely has peach leaf curl and almost all the leaves are yellowing with a touch of red and curling before they fall off. That means Bordeaux mix treatment in the Autumn and no moving it into the polytunnel before then. Looks like the cherry trees and roses (which have had aphid infestation as well as black spot) will need Bordeaux mix as well.  

I think I should give up on gardening.