The Good Word is that the Vineyard is Alive and Growing!
It was tough going last year what with a Spring that had thaws and freezes, Deer discovering the vineyard and finding it was good to eat, and gophers attacking their delicate roots.
It was tough going last year what with a Spring that had thaws and freezes, Deer discovering the vineyard and finding it was good to eat, and gophers attacking their delicate roots.
But some hardy vines survived and are growing well so we need to get a trellis in place.
Thankfully our young strong friend (Alyssa's childhood chum) Tyler B. came to the Farm to work for Farmer Keith last week.
His job was to dig holes in the rocky, sometimes very rocky, soil and put in the wooden posts that will hold the wire the vines will grow up to.
On Friday Farmer Keith came and helped him a bit.
But Tyler put in the majority of these poles plus got started on the upper side.
We hope he will come back again for some more work - but we aren't holding our breath!
That guy worked hard!!!
To The Good Life!
4 comments:
Did you plant rose bushes at the end of every row of vine?
Hi Rob,
Not rose bushes, we planted Irises between the vines - but only 200, which covered only 3 1/2 rows! It looked beautiful this Spring so I will try to plant more rows this Fall and following Falls till we have all the rows (I think 15) planted.
Do the irises perform the same function as rose bushes? As I visited vineyards in Europe and here in the U.S., I always noticed the roses at each end of the vines.
When I finally asked why, I was told that roses have the same physiology and immune system, if you will as a grape vine but even more sensitive.
Therefore, the roses would get any type of blight or insect infestation weeks before the vines, allowing the farmers to identify and cure the problem before it affected their crop.
Don't know if this is science or lore but interesting nonetheless.
I have no idea about physiology and immune system of the iris Rob,but that is very interesting about the roses - however I did listen to some of the "old timers" and they think that irises ward off the deer so that is why I planted them and because I thought it would be pretty :-) By the way - they don't ward off the deer, but they are pretty!
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