It finally rained

The vineyard was quite dry

We have had a long dry spell and yesterday it finally rained. And it rained quite a lot in Mayo. You can hear the trees breathing a sigh of relief. They had already started dropped their leaves. With the ash dieback disease, forestry is suffering in Ireland. We don't need more pressure on the canopy.

We have been watering the gardens but not the vineyard and not the rewilding area. Our rain catchment and pond were getting very low and now have been topped up. The grapes had not increased in size since the last time I posted but now I expect them to plump up. We've got another dry spell coming over the next few days, so I am hoping they won't get too diluted. The Azores high has been parked solidly over Ireland for weeks. 

During the rainy weather, we went to work on the polytunnel again. We still have not found a suitable eating grape for the tunnel. We did, however, manage to install the third and last raised bed. Still need to fill it with compost, but I've got a layer of seaweed at the bottom. Alex is planning a strawberry bed as well. It's all coming together. 

Climate change wreaking havoc quickly

Sunrise with blue skies

July was the earth's hottest ever recorded. Here the average temp in July was 17.5 - warmer than the prior 4 years by 1-2 degrees.  

In fact, scientists have said that the record heat in the Pacific Northwest was thought to be impossible yet it happened. Fires, floods, rain at the summit in Greenland - all historically significant events. And it's happening much faster than anyone thought. In fact, it feels like we've passed the tipping point. Heaven help us if we have. 

Our rainfall total for August was relatively normal although it felt like we had weeks without rain which we did. When it rained, it rained more heavily so the patterns have changed. 

Hurricane Ida which made landfall at New Orleans still caused catastrophic flooding in New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The subways in NY had to all be shut down due to flooding. Thousands lost power and Ida was only a TS when it reached that far. But it held more water than hurricanes used to. 

Polytunnel almost finished

We've been working on completing the polytunnel slowly as it's been so sunny and hot in there lately that it's been impossible to work in it consistently. Alex straightened out the doors frames and poured cement for the bolt holes in the ground that will secure the doors closed in the winter and open in the summer. He fixed the problem of the grading by installing two steps, as we will only use the West entrance for walking not driving. He's also installed thresholds in both doors to keep the gravel in place on sloping ground. Finally, Alex installed a tool organizer bar. I had envisioned something different but it works. 

I spread out the gravel which looks very nice - three loads so far. We need one more load to complete the floor out the door and to top up in the greenhouse below. I really like it. 

The automatic watering system is working fine so we don't have to worry about not being here. The tomatoes, courgettes, broccoli, beans, spring onions, hot peppers, cucumber, kiwi and leeks are doing well. The spinach and arugula have come up but no mange tout. None of the seeds I planted anywhere came up. I think it was a defective batch. 

We had to move potted plants outside as they were cooking inside and still have to water them daily by hand, along with the rest of the garden. I think it hasn't rained in about two weeks and won't rain until this coming weekend. The composter I bought is doing a nice job. I'll have fresh compost in a few weeks. 

What's left to do is:

• Finish the gravel
• Build the third bed
• Build the strawberry bed
• Plant the new beds

We're ordering a grapevine with eating grapes for the tunnel. We'll plant it next to the outer wall so its roots can grow out beyond the tunnel and get the moisture and depth from outside. 

We'll hopefully have a polytunnel party in the autumn. It seems like a good place for dancing, although dancing on gravel isn't always elegant. Doors can be open for ventilation, and if we pick a sunny day, it will be cosy inside. 

I love our new 'room'. 

Spreading out the gravel

Looking good.

Living with the space where the new bed
will go has caused us to change our minds. 
It will now go in line with the other two. 

Tomatoes! 

Beans courgettes, hot peppers, etc

The steps

The threshold

The beast, the sink, and the organizer

I love the raised beds. It makes the weeding a pleasure. 

The living quarters shaping up

The working quarters still have a few things pending.

Stuff is growing well

Now I can take a break and relax.

Veraison underway!

Lo and behold, veraison, the changing of berry colour, is underway. The Ronda grapes are looking fine. Bigger than last year already and already turning a lovely red.

The Solaris are once again disappointing. Some have formed grapes, others withered into tiny black balls. Alex thinks they were not pollinated and wants to move a hive into the vineyard. But as grapes are self-pollinating, will that help. 

Anyway, it's looking promising, or more like hopeful. Just this drasted drought getting in the way. 

The vines are growing

Looking neater

Suddenly, everything started growing exponentially. The mild temperatures, gentle rain, and light winds produced ideal conditions. The vines shot up and out making it difficult for Alex to mow. When I started tying the vines up to the supports, I found two issues: 

1. Some of the heavier vines, mostly 4-year-old Solaris, had broken the top tape that was holding them to the supports and were drooping in half. Fortunately, none had broken. 
2. The electrical tape we were using had killed the primary shoots on the newer vines (Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Albarino) from the area of the tape down to the stock. 

Dead primaries killed by tape

I knew the Albarino were not doing as well as the others and was disappointed, but I had not noticed that the shoots we had taped to the supports had actually died. The remaining vines were stressed and therefore stunted. Three Albarinos and three Chardonnays were completely dead. 

I next cut up strips of nylon stockings to tie the vines with. That's a trick I learned from the woman I bought our first house from. It was a great way to reuse something that had reached its life limit. They are soft and stretchy. 

As I tied up the vines with the new strips of stockings, I removed the tape and excised the dead wood. I am very sad that we were actually killing the vines without realising it. I hope they can recover. We need to get those overhead trellises built. 

Surprise! Tiny Pinot noir grapes on one vine. 

Solaris grapes getting plumper

The audience

Friends getting a tour

California is running out of water

This could be a record bad year for wines, which could result in decreased supplies and increased cost across the board. In France, they are predicting 30% lower yields than normal due to the late frost early in the season. In California, they are reducing their yield on purpose by cutting some of the grape clusters off to concentrate moisture in the remaining clusters to save the crop altogether. 

Many of the classic winemaking towns have restricted water supplies. Some have even denied farmers access to the reservoirs completely. Nearly 1000 landowners in Mendocino county were told there wasn't enough water for them. An emergency law passed enables the government to prohibit people from diverting water. All these people flocked to the sunshine in the west without considering if they could survive there. What to do when you have millions of people and drought for two years in a row? The Russian River valley known for its vineyards is in dire straits with farmers trucking water to their vineyards. The Dixie Fire in the Sierra Nevada is the largest wildfire in Calfornia's history. 

When the NY Times does an article about vineyards suffering, you know it's bad. But it's a really interesting article about two different methods of growing grapes. One manages the vineyard without watering and other interventions, the other waters in interesting patterns. It seems that watering in vineyards causes the grapes to keep their roots shallow. Avoiding watering encourages the vines to grow deep roots in search of water thereby increasing their resilience to other climatic conditions and pestilence. 

We've decided not to water and once again we seem to have made a decision that makes sense without us knowing so scientifically. But it makes sense to me that if vines grow long above ground they would have to grow long roots below ground to anchor themselves. And they do. 

Curiously, when we first moved here, there were no mushrooms growing on the land. Since we planted trees, we've got many varieties of mushrooms popping up all over the place, suggesting that the earth is returning to a natural vegetative state and the fungi have moved in. That means the land is healing itself and for that I am grateful. Land that has fungi should retain moisture better and should also drain better as they add structure to the soil that enables penetration. 

As of the 12th of August, at 122 mm, we've already had twice as much rain as in all of June or July. The grapes are finally getting plumper. But do they have the time to get to a nice size before veraison?

 

PS Hamel Family Wines switched their vineyard to dry farming with excellent results. 

Oregon on fire

Who would have thought that cool Oregon would be growing Albariño at the Fault Line Vineyards in the Umpqua Valley American Viticultural Area?  But this year, the heating degree units may be almost 30% higher than normal and that may be too warm for the grapes. Not only is it hot, but it also is dry this year. And they are looking at yet another record-making heatwave. 

The weather across the US remains unsettled and unusual. It does not appear to be a good time to be involved in agriculture in many areas of the world.