Joey always kids me that our vineyard looks like a golf course. Not quite, but for a few weeks in June it will look very pretty! As you can see the weed cloth and mulch are holding up OK under the vine rows. On the first 20 rows I have weed whacked the edges and then mowed the clover, and done shoot positioning. I think except for when grapes are on the vines, this is the prettiest time in the vineyard.

Work so far in May.

May 3 – 2 hours – 1 hour mowing, 1 hour weeding
May 4 – 4.5 hours – 1 hour mowing, 1 hour weeding, 1.5 hours Spraying (16 gallons)
May 7 – 2 hours tying
May 8 – 6.5 hours – 1.5 hours mowing, 1 hour weeding, 4 hours tying/wires
May 9 – 8 hours + 12 hours hired, tree work, weeding, mulching
May 10 – 8 hours chipping, getting gates, mowing, clean-up
May 12 – 4 hours – 2 hours tying highway stakes, 2 hours shoot positioning
May 14 – 6.5 hours – 2 hours spraying (21 gallons), 3 hours getting supplies, 1.5 hours wires in front and shoot positioning
May 15 – 8.5 hours + 3 hours donated – shoot positioning
May 16 – 6 hours + 8 hours hired – shoot positioning and 4 hours clean-up
May 17 – 2 hours – watering 6 hours
May 18 – 2 hours – watering zone 4/fertilizing zone 1
May 19 – 4 hours – gopher class and fertilizing zone 2/watering zone 3
May 21 – 2 hours – shoot positioning
May 22 – 8 hours + 14 hours hired – fencing, weeding, chipping
May 23 – 4 hours – spraying with new sprayer, but it broke….mowing
May 24 – 2 hour – spraying with backpack sprayer and gopher duty
May 25 – 3 hours – backpack spraying (30 gallons @ 1oz/gal), front vines and clean-up
May 28 – 4 hours – Removing grow tubes
May 29 – 3 hours – removing grow tubes and weeding
May 30 – 2 hours – c-clips and shoot positioning
May 31 –

May was an interesting month here in Sebastopol. Since I was under the weather early in the month….got a little behind. Just as I thought I was caught up and ready for the summer…..spring returns and we get a lot of rain….so back to being behind!!! We didn’t think it rained this much here. Up to 47” already this year….normally we got 12” in San Jose. Vines are looking good….soon I’ll cut them back to 30” so we can get good canes for next year’s first harvest. In case you don’t know…..the rebar is 3’ tall…..so most of the vines on the west end are 3.5 to 4’ tall. The biggest in the vineyard is 6’, I have to go cut that one very soon or it will be out of control.

By the way……I have noticed that the vines planted near the highway stakes are bigger. I think that is because of the extra heat that goes to the roots of those plants. (Highways stakes are the 6’ tall posts in the picture)

Anyway, here are my hourly totals for the month.

Totals for May – Doug….47.5 hours…..hired…..23 2/3 hours

I’ll do a little math Wednesday and figure out how many hours so far…..I’m sure not as many as established vineyards! Something to look forward to next year.