Pruning and Snow!

Started pruning the vines in December 2010.  If the vine has not reached the fruiting wire I prune the vine back down to just two buds.  This may seem drastic but the vine has established its root system in the first year. Those that have grown beyond the fruiting wire I cut back to the fruiting wire - if these have no green showing in the stem (which should be pencil thickness) then I cut back to just two buds as before.  Most vines are being cut back this far.  Then it snowed...

The photos were taken on Boxing Day.

Wilts & Glos Standard report on planting in May 2010

http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/8153380.Vineyard_planted_in_Cotswolds/

Trellis cont.

Trellising continues with the end-post diagonal supports, the first wires and the intermediate posts. We are using 8" wooden end-posts for aesthetic reasons and green powder-coated galvanised steel intermediate posts for durability.

Trellissing

In the last week of September we have started installing the trellissing. We will be using the Scott Henry system which divides the canopy with half the shoots trained upwards and the other half trained to grow downwards. This allows greater fruit exposure for ripening and a less dense canopy reduces the risk of disease.

Growing well

Through June, July and August the vines have grown well, with only a few failures...

Canes & Rabbit Guards

We hired a mulch laying machine and laid about 8km of weed fabric over the vines. We then had to cut a hole in the fabric over each vine and then fit a bamboo cane and rabbit guard - backbreaking work for 5500 vines!

Planting problems

Unfortunately the torrential rain the night before planting meant that the ground was rather waterlogged and the trench made by the planting machine did not close properly around the roots of many of the vines. So we had to heel many of them in firmly and for the rest we used the 5-ton Manitou to press the soil down around the roots. We also used the Manitou with a 1000-litre tank to water them in.