It's an Ill Wind

The vineyard after it's haircut



The leaf fall - to sweep or not to sweep, that is the question!

The temperature at night is falling and in order to conserve the heat in the house, Jean nips round each evening and closes the exterior wooden shutters. This works like a charm except that the following morning, we are still curled up fast asleep in the pitch dark, unaware that it is already 8.30am and most of the civilised world is up and doing. We were rewarded this morning when we finally did open the shutters, to find that the sky was a clear blue, and although we were paying for it with a brisk north wind, the wretched rain which has hung around for weeks seemed to have pushed off elsewhere.

“A great day to prune the grapevines” I announced, and Jean leapt straight onto the internet to ensure that we wouldn’t kill them off from lack of knowledge.

“Leave two shoots cut at the second bud and cut away everything else” said the site which tells you how to prune every tree known to man, so we pulled on our jackets and boots and headed out into the vineyard, each clutching a pair of secateurs. Once we had gained our confidence on the first vine, the other three didn’t take us much time at all, and the job was done. From this you will understand that our vineyard isn’t exactly extensive, but as we drive through the local vineyards and see the thousands upon thousands of vines which have to be pruned by hand, we are rather glad that we don’t have a similar problem.

The north wind is doing another job for us and is bringing the leaves down off the micocoulier tree at a great rate. I have looked up the alternative name for this tree but can only come up with “Lotus Tree”. Suffice it to say, it has thousands of yellow leaves that are swirling in great drifts around the courtyard, and a proposed trip to the supermarket was quickly cancelled when we went out and realised how cold the wind was. I can hear my Florida friends laughing as they lie next to the pool!