Spring is a busy time in the vineyard. Once the buds had pushed it was almost nightly frost watch. My weather station sends me a cell text message if the temp. gets close to freezing. This usually means the cell phone, which I keep beside the bed, rings several days a week between 4am and 6am. Once the alarm sounds I get up, get dressed warmly, and go out and turn on the frost sprinkler system. After taking an early morning walk around the vineyard to make sure everything is working, getting back to sleep is difficult to impossible. The "official" end of frost season is May 15th, but Mother-nature has lost her calendar this year. We are under a frost warning this weekend (May 21-23).
With all the rain this year I have mowed 3 times already and will mow once or twice more this year. The late season rains also provide good conditions for leaf mold in the vineyard so we are being diligent on spraying mold retardants. Early this spring it was too wet for the tractor so we had the "Blueman Crew" hand spraying (see photo).
I have a new weapon in the mission to manage the gophers in the vineyard. Kona has discovered gopher hunting. We have one confirmed kill. It's a hoot to watch him waiting with his head completely inside the gopher tunnel he has unearthed.
The downside of his participation is that I have large holes to fill.
The score is now Kona 1 and traps 142.
