The rain that doesn’t come
As far as the climate goes, we are still suffering from a big shortage of rainfall, which means our water reserves in the soil are diminishing day by day. Add to this some lower than usual average temperatures in May. These factors mean the plant’s vegetative growth is slower than in other years, marking a total delay in the vine’s phenological development of just over ten days.
The importance of roots
As good, old Garnacha with a root system which stretches down more than a metre and a half below ground, our Montepedriza plot is bearing up easily in this dry year. But as we tend the vines in these tricky times, our job is to help them get through this dry patch as best they can, and part of that means eliminating any other external vegetation that could compete for scarce water resources.
Clear the ground….and celebrate!
So this month it’s time to work the soil and reach for our grass strimmers again, to help make sure all the available water goes to our Garnacha vines. And we’re getting ourselves ready for the next task…the one planned for 1 June: the summer