a colds a comin’
Last night the mercury was supposed to push 31… but only made it down to 34.1 in the bowl that sits the vineyard. Narrow miss.
Tonight, expected low of 30 for 4 hours starting about 3am. I’ve got sprinklers on the ready, and hopes for an insulating blanket of snow or at least rain to keep away the reaper. These are tough nights! Seems like the weather is threatening many of Montana’s vineyards (re: Clark Fork). A bit disheartening to have ~10 degrees less of a chance here though.
One of the insurance policies I took against early killing frosts was to plant each vine in a slight ‘hollow’, then lightly back fill with straw, to allow for new growth while simultaneously providing an insulating effect. This wouldn’t work, of course, if my vines were growing properly from cordons/trunk because they hardened off correctly in the autumn- which they haven’t yet- so, coming out of their second winter, they still push new growth from their bases. Makes it easier to foil the spring freeze (re: straw, insulating ground, etc.), but bad for the long run it’s their third growing season now and yet a single vine is trained properly on their trellis having saved the previous years’ trunks.
‘Aint easy growing vines up here. Have been considering an acre-sized greenhouse.
In other news, travelled to wyoming this weeked to visit family and witnessed an amazing and powerful storm cell, the beautiful Bighorn Canyon, and the so-named female? bighorn sheep in full shed.
