St Jude’s Vineyard

June 30, tomorrow is July.  Pandemic raging. First full change of olive fly yeast traps for front yard (10 trees), hill (6 trees) and gate (3 trees).  I’ve set 17 traps on these 19 trees.  We still have 16 trees in the back orchard with 6 traps set, first time in mid-June, and 2 new traps to add when I reset these mid-July.  These back orchard trees were set later with fewer traps because they wer picked pretty clean in the harvest last fall, and they are generally younger, smaller trees, less history of production and therefore much less infestation. Last week’s weather was remarkable, in that it was a weather pattern we really haven’t seen for some years.  It was cold, in the low 60’s, which was not that unusual, but we had fog coming in everyday around 3 pm and burning off the next day by mid-morning.  Ten years ago I would have said that that was our usual summer pattern, but then it disappeared.  The marine layer would drift in in the late afternoon, but without the fog.  Look

We pulled out a tree stump on Saturday.  It was the strawberry tree next to the raised beds outside the kitchen window.  It was a beautiful tree but very messy and providing shade where none was desired. 20 years old, 20 feet high, and over a foot in diameter.  The roots were large and many.  It took three guys over three hours to chop and dig away so that the tractor could pull it out.  I decided to remove it last week   after realizing that that space was where the outdoor fireplace should go, along with an extended patio.  It is nice to have the luxury of studying, living with, building sites before designing structures. It makes for much better decisions, with vineyards and sheds and pools and ball courts and gardens and fences, etc.   It is sad when a beautiful tree, 20 years in, is in the wrong place.  But these strawberry trees, of which we still have 6 or 7, are very messy.  We also pulled out 5 of these trees last year from the front yard, and had moved 7 of them 6-8 years ago

The major task for the summer is watering, judging what is sufficient to maintain adequate growth, and survival, given this last winter’s rain.  This task means initially checking all the lines for leaks and water delivery to the trees and bushes, which means mostly repairing and replacing broken or clogged drippers.  Then I usually get an estimate of how much water each line delivers in an hour, by reading the meter, and monitoring that all summer to ensure no major leaks develop. Keeping the weeds down, maintaining an inviting property, is the other major “ground maintenance” task.  Once the soil starts to dry out and the weeds die, keeping up with the mowing and weed whacking is much less demanding. With respect to the crops, grapes and olives need weekly attention, specifically powdery mildew spraying and pruning with the grapes, and olive fly traps for the olive trees. Summer is also a food time to think about and get into major maintenance projects, or new development, con

June 20, 2020, first day of summer, and our third day of fog and cool weather.  We seem to have reverted to a weather pattern that was once very common throughout spring and summer.  That pattern is daily fog which comes in around 4 in the afternoon, and leaves for about 4-6 hours mid day, with high temperatures in the low 60s.  Fortunately for the grapes, we had a fine spring with daily highs, consistently in the mid 70s to low 80s, which meant good pollination.  My guess is that fruitful bud formation for next year, also, I believe, highly dependent on warm 70-80 degree weather, follows pollination.  I guess next year, and the following few weeks, we’ll find out if this year’s warm spring and early summer ( assuming the fog is not here to stay) is sufficient for good crop development.  Last year it was not, so even with good pollination, I don’t expect much more than the usual crop. The “usual crop” seems to be less than 2 lbs/vine for the Chardonnay and half that for the Pinot.

It is mid-June, and the tasks are irrigation, pruning and spraying the grapes, and weed control across the property. I have 19 years of rainfall records for this property.  A good year is 24 to 28 inches is, measured July 1 to June 30, 22-26 inches.  Almost all of our rain falls between October and April.   This year (just now ending), we had 18 inches.  A general rule I’ve heard from a local expert is that 30-35 inches is required for dry farming (i.e., no irrigation).  Of course, that depends on the crop and the soil and the heat-stress weather.  We do pretty well on 25” or so. Fortunately, our two major crops, grapes and olives, do not require a lot of  water even in a dry year.  But we have many trees and bushes, for landscaping as well as food, and 18 or so irrigation/drip lines, so drought years and plant survival are a worry for most of the property, not so much for olives and grapes.

But Hope Springs Eternal!  After at least a decade, we actually have green vines in the spring.  We have had consistently warm weather this spring, and the nitrogen uptake from the soil is sufficient to keep the vines green.  The warm weather has also resulted in good pollination, with most clusters pollinating and most berries within a cluster pollinating at the same time.  Our weather now, post bloom, is remaining warm which promises for many more fruitful buds next year.  A good harvest requires two consecutive springs that are consistently, ideally, 75 to 85 degree highs from early May through mid-June, to ensure fruitful buds, year one, for next year’s clusters, and good pollination, year two. Last year’s spring was far from ideal for fruitful bud formation, so this year’s harvest should be a little better than normal, due to good pollination, but substantially short, once again, on adequate production.  The fruitful buds forming now (post bloom) will determine next year’s harve

We have two varieties of wine grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, about 100 vines each.  Chardonnay is generally more vigorous and fruitful than Pinot, and about 1-2 weeks earlier in growth.  These vines were all planted in 2001.  In a grape-growing climate, which does not include our Coastal Zone, in a low-yielding vineyard, one would normally expect 4-5 lbs/vine from the Pinot, and perhaps double that from the Chardonnay.  In this vineyard, we are averaging about 0.6 to 0.7 lbs/vine for the Pinot, and 1.8 lbs/vine for the Chardonnay.  The Pinot quality is generally poor, due to inadequate ripening and disease.  The Chardonnay quality is decent. About 3-4 years ago, we pulled out our two smaller vineyards, reducing our number of vines by 50%.  It was never “a dream” to grow wine grapes.  My knowledge and interest in wine was minimal in 2001.  But, the saying is, if you have land that is otherwise non-agricultural, plant grapes.  Our land was analyzed as 85% sand, classified as a vege

I’ve had our shade sails up and down a couple times already this year.  Usually the wind is not strong here so once up they can stay up from early spring into September or October.  Our dominant weather pattern, with the marine layer, foggy or not, is a steady 10 mph late morning afternoon breeze.  Sometimes heavier gusts are forecasted (20-25 mph), but we seldom see those winds.  We sit just at the top of a 2-mile or so long valley, which falls off to the west, just below the Coastal ridge line. We seem to be protected from strong winds. Our elevation runs from 350’ or so on the west edge of the property, to 450’ or so on the east edge.

I was just out setting our some more Ball traps for the olive flies.  We have 43 olive trees, most in the ground now 10 to 18 years; 8 just acquired yet to plant.  These new ones are Spanish and Greek varieties; the older ones are all Tuscan. Watering is perhaps the biggest issue this time of year.  I just started watering last week, the orchards, which involves checking all drippers and drip lines. There are always repairs necessary, usualy nothing big.  This year, besides the numerous drippers, there was a new line under the mulch that gophers had punctured in 2 places and a 3/4” pbc line with a crack in it.  And some of the relatively young valves I put in 5 or 6 years ago, and breaking rather than turing, to open and close.  So I an starting to replace those.  I went to hand-operated gate valves for our 20 or so irrigation lines, having no confidence in the electronic automatic drip system - mostly because you have to check the line and drippers most every time you turn it on, so

St Jude’s Vineyard I am resolved to describing and documenting this farm, so that 5 or 10 years from now it will be fairly simple, and cost effective, to own it and run it, on site or absentee. We have 2.5 acres in Monterey County California.  We have fully landscaped it with dozens of fruit trees and olive trees and a small, 200-vine vineyard.  We’ve been organic farmers and gardeners for 50 years.  We have developed this acreage from obtaining the property, and a newly built house, in 2001. This blog could have been a manual with separate chapters discussing plantings, weather, water, soil, as well as the care and harvesting of grapes, olives, avocados, cherries, apples, etc.  But I think a blog is better.  First, everything is tied up to the seasonal patterns.  Second, what is required in running this farm is specific to the time of year.  Third, I never liked manuals or textbooks, other than for direct reference.  I’ve always been hands on with the learning. So, today is Sa