Woke up to a little rain this morning and NO FROST. Day cloudy and cooler.
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info@chafor.co.uk
Sunday 25 April 2010
April 24th, 2010
Frost - it must be some kind of April record. I think that we have had a frost for the last 8 nights! We had a walk through the vines and there is no sign of damage. Very hot and sunny again.
Had a picnic with the family and planted some broad beans.
April 23rd, 2010
FROST - I can't believe that I am still using the word.
Used Georges telehandler to move the piles of plannings off the new track. We are going for a crushed limestone mid layer with plannings on the top.
Still no sign of any goslings yet.
April 22nd, 2010
Another frost. Clear cold nights, warm sunny days.
Spent the day on the tractor mowing.
The flying restrictions have been lifted and people are getting home
April 21st, 2010
Yet another frost this morning. I hope the buds will survive, slightly anxious time. However, a hot sunny day. What a fantastic sky, so blue with no vapor trails - planes still grounded. 150,000 Britain's stranded abroad. I spent the day again cultivating between the vines and found a cannon ball. I guess it was from the English civil war. I wonder what else I will find?
In the afternoon I helped my neighbour take down a tree in his back garden.
April 20th, 2010
Frost again this morning and a warm sunny day. Still no flights and many people stranded abroad including some friends and people from the village.
It is so nice to look up in the sky and not see vapour trails.
Went all the way through the vineyard with the cultivator.
The majority of vines are showing budburst.
April 19th, 2010
Kids back at school. My dad gave me a 25KG bag of mixed seed potatoes. I planted them in a long row along the eastern edge of the vineyard. I devised a technique using the mole plough and tractor to create a furrow/channel in which to plant them. May or may not work.
Would you believe it - a pesky mole has been digging on the area that I leveled yesterday.
April 18th, 2010
Frost again this morning, could be bad news for the new buds. I have noticed that the vines not in grow tubes are behind. Used the subsoiler and cultivator to level out the deep ruts in the track near the allotment. Hot day again - had a picnic at the vineyard.
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info@chafor.co.uk
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
April 17th, 2010
Back in Tingewick. Woke up to a frost, the day warmed up nicely. Managed to get a puncture in the front tractor wheel. Sent Stephanie to get it fixed. As you can see I had to use blocks and a car jack to get the wheel off - not ideal. Poor picture, but we have "budburst". A little to early to avoid the frosts. I hope we will be OK.
Matt came with a large 360 to form the track out of the Hardcore rubble that we have been collecting for several years.
We moved the chickens to a new part of the field.
April 16th, 2010
The dust cloud has now spread through out northern europe and all flight are suspended with the majority of airports closed!!!!!
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info@chafor.co.uk
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
April 15th, 2010
The big news is that a volcano has erupted in Iceland sending a dust cloud over the UK. All flights have been suspended in British airspace.
How will it affect the vineyard?
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info@chafor.co.uk
How will it affect the vineyard?
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
April 13th, 2010
Another hot day, Jessica and I planted more potatoes. They are a French variety called Ratte. We also planted some red onions and shallots.
3 years ago I started to clear the ground for my small allotment. It was over grown with tough grass, nettles and brambles. I spent what seemed like days with a cultivator and spade digging out roots. The soil was compacted and lacking humus. Today it is like beautiful fine talcum powder, deep and rich and will hopefully produce some good vegetables later in the summer.
April 12th, 2010
Used the mole plough to create drainage on the wet area at the far end of the vineyard. Hope it works.
Weather a little cooler today.
The apple trees are bursting.
Monday 12 April 2010
April 10th, 2010
Full turn out again today. We were able to plant most of the potatoes and Jessica used the fertiliser spinner to spread grass seed.
For the record we planted Mona Lisa - a variety that we discovered 3 years ago on holiday in France and Rosabelle - "little red beauties" as we call them that worked well last season.
2nd BBQ of the season.
Picture show the state of the track...
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info@chafor.co.uk
April 9th, 2010
Hot again, probably the hottest day of the year so far. Carried on preparing for my potatoes and repaired some of the damage to the soil that happened over the winter.
Noticed that the hedges are springing into life. Within a month they will be a thick green screen hiding the vineyard from the road.
Jessica had a run in with Fred the cockerel this afternoon. He is getting very protective over the hens - must be the time of year.
Noticed that the hedges are springing into life. Within a month they will be a thick green screen hiding the vineyard from the road.
Jessica had a run in with Fred the cockerel this afternoon. He is getting very protective over the hens - must be the time of year.
Sunday 11 April 2010
April 8th, 2010
Frost this morning, but a nice warm day. Kids off school. Started to prepare the ground for my potatoes. The drive belt broke on the Rotavator after 10 mins work, luckily Browns had a replacement in stock.
Decided to change the wheels on the Landrover - oops. The jack slipped. Had to call out Clive to sort it out.
I didn't appreciate the difference in size and pattern of my winter mud tyres to the standard Landrover ones until they were side by side. I can testify that the oversize ones in extreme conditions are fantastic and the skinny - "summer" ones are absolutely useless. Why do Landrover supply a truly capable off road farm truck with townie wheels? I can just about understand it on a RangeRover but why on a Defender??
Worth noting that we had our first BBQ of the season.
info@chafor.co.uk
April 1st, 2010
Morning frost.
Measured soil temperature in vegetable plot at noon as +7DegC
Most vegetables that I intend to plant need ~10-15DegC to germinate. Everything is late this year!
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
Measured soil temperature in vegetable plot at noon as +7DegC
Most vegetables that I intend to plant need ~10-15DegC to germinate. Everything is late this year!
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
March 31st, 2010
Finished tying the canes to the wires.
The plan for year one is complete.
I will be able to do the rest of the wires during the summer.
Hail Stones at lunchtime
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
The plan for year one is complete.
I will be able to do the rest of the wires during the summer.
Hail Stones at lunchtime
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
March 30th, 2010
Continued tying the canes to the wire, at it all day.
On french news I noticed that in some regions the vineyards look more like paddy fields than vineyards. The weather at the moment is rather wet and cold, but thankfully not that bad!
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
On french news I noticed that in some regions the vineyards look more like paddy fields than vineyards. The weather at the moment is rather wet and cold, but thankfully not that bad!
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
Thursday 8 April 2010
March 29th, 2010
Full day at it today as I had help from Linda with the kids. This enabled be to finish all the first wires. Again very pleased with the progress.
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info@chafor.co.uk
Lost 5-2 to Lloyds Allstars, last game of the season, we came second bottom.
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info@chafor.co.uk
March 28th, 2010
It is dry enough to do the first pass with the cultivator. I did the rows alternate to the ones that I subsoiled and sorted out the headlands.
March 27th, 2010
Saturday and the kids are at a party this afternoon so I have some help. Between us we managed to get at least one wire down ~15 rows. It is much easier with two as one person can mind the wire dispenser and prevent snags and tangles. Not much fun if you have pulled 100m and there is 5m to the end of the row and it snags. 200m walk to untangle, guess how I feel if it then happens again straight away.
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info@chafor.co.uk
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
March 26th, 2010
Wire pulling going well, getting on faster than I imagined. It has made a big difference to the look and feel of the vineyard.
I wonder if I will achieve 10,000 nails (staples) this spring. If it takes ~10 bashes per nail, that would be 100,000 hits and if I allow for only 1% hit finger that is 1,000 hammer blows to my left hand. My problem is, I am not that good! It's gona hurt...
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
I wonder if I will achieve 10,000 nails (staples) this spring. If it takes ~10 bashes per nail, that would be 100,000 hits and if I allow for only 1% hit finger that is 1,000 hammer blows to my left hand. My problem is, I am not that good! It's gona hurt...
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
March 25th, 2010
New job today, pulling wires. It is my intention to use a system that uses 5 or better 6 wires on each row. This would be one permanent "fruiting" wire of H/T or thick mild steel positioned at ~70cm, Two movable pairs of thinner and more flexible mild steel wire that is used to keep all the foliage neat and controlled as it grows and if I have enough wire left over, a second permanent top wire to make the system really stable and firm. This is about 40Km or~25 miles of wire, ooooooh yet another Marathon task made a little more difficult as most of it will be second hand. For now my target is to get at least one wire per row tied to all the canes before they start to grow to ensure that they do not fall over. This was a big problem last year as every morning I had to pick up 30 - 30 vines and once it was more like 200 following a windy night.
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info@chafor.co.uk
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
March 24th, 2010
At last finished the box sections, They do look impressive almost like a row of sentry's guarding the vines at each end. Now that I have finished I am glad that I decided to go with box sections, but I think that using angled posts and wire stays would have been less work.
Met with a digger driver today to look at fixing the track up to the vineyard to improve access (ha ha what access). This is critical if anyone asks for a visit.
I was able to do a bit of tidying up, sorted and put all the loose posts in the new rack.
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
Met with a digger driver today to look at fixing the track up to the vineyard to improve access (ha ha what access). This is critical if anyone asks for a visit.
I was able to do a bit of tidying up, sorted and put all the loose posts in the new rack.
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
March 23rd, 2010
More box sections, becoming an expert? used mild steel wire today rather than HiTensile, not sure which is best????
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
March 22nd, 2010
Carried on doing the box sections, It is better to do them as a group of 16-20 and do all the tasks as one. ie all the marking out on the posts, then all the cutting of the posts using a template, then all the measuring, cutting and treating of the cross sections, then all the drilling, nails/staples then the assembly and finally the straining wire.
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
Raspberry canes have burst!
Lost 4-2 this evening, again not that far from been equal.
http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk
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