Thanks, Sister!10 February 2009
09 February 2009
To every task, a season...
There's really only one way to get your grapevines to look like this in September.
You have to do this in February.
Hubby and I were blessed with a mild Sunday with plentiful sunshine and calm winds. That meant only one thing: time to start winter pruning. We worked as a team. I moved down the row cutting away tendrils and tape that had been holding unruly vines to the bamboo supports and wire. After giving each vine a trim that rivaled an "Army Buzz," hubby followed with the nifty new tapener, training the vines to grow (come spring) in orderly fashion.
We both started off wearing warm pants, but switched to covering our clothes with rain pants because the task required kneeling in knee-deep snow. (Remarkably, the field across the street had no snow cover whatsoever.) It took us between sixty and ninety minutes to prune and train one row.
Above, plenty of untrained vines await our attention. Below, a pruned vine all ready for the arrival of spring. Us too!
We started before noon on Row 1 and quit after finishing Row 4. By then, the sun had already set and a full, bright moon had risen in the east.
At Four Cedars, there's always plenty of outdoor work needing our attention. It takes just a few long, cold months stuck indoors for us to realize, though, that a day spent toiling outside beats a day of leisure when we're stuck inside the house. I guess we're just restless that way.
You have to do this in February.
Hubby and I were blessed with a mild Sunday with plentiful sunshine and calm winds. That meant only one thing: time to start winter pruning. We worked as a team. I moved down the row cutting away tendrils and tape that had been holding unruly vines to the bamboo supports and wire. After giving each vine a trim that rivaled an "Army Buzz," hubby followed with the nifty new tapener, training the vines to grow (come spring) in orderly fashion.
We both started off wearing warm pants, but switched to covering our clothes with rain pants because the task required kneeling in knee-deep snow. (Remarkably, the field across the street had no snow cover whatsoever.) It took us between sixty and ninety minutes to prune and train one row.
Above, plenty of untrained vines await our attention. Below, a pruned vine all ready for the arrival of spring. Us too!
We started before noon on Row 1 and quit after finishing Row 4. By then, the sun had already set and a full, bright moon had risen in the east.
At Four Cedars, there's always plenty of outdoor work needing our attention. It takes just a few long, cold months stuck indoors for us to realize, though, that a day spent toiling outside beats a day of leisure when we're stuck inside the house. I guess we're just restless that way.
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