Rain, heck yeah.

Ah. But the green house..
Too much confidence?

The other week, you will recall, there was a lot of rain IMBY, all over the Portable Vineyard vines.

But I did not think of the poor old cuttings! The collection I spent so much time cultivating: weeding, spraying, watering, feeding the last 6 or so months, has ended up in the toilet.

With so much water falling freely the greenhouse denizens were completely forgotten about. Not ignored- that means you you know about it, but Forgotten about.
Oh dear. When I realised, oh crap. Really disappointed in me.

The Pinot Noir may have ONE survivor.

The Shiraz/Syrah in the shallow trays are Dead, but the ones in the pots will be fine. I think.

The rest of the vines are fine, sort of. I think that the garage grapes are nearly ready for harvest this week or next, and the Pinot Noir is too. The Shiraz group looks like it has been attacked again by mildew.

There is a small consolation in the "cemetery", a few sprouts have arisen from buried old cast offs, as it were. Voila:

In the next fortnight- Harvest 2012, blow by blow.

Recovering the Shiraz Pots

Looks Like Nature Abhors Dieback
New Growth After Mildew Attack

I bought a "new" compound based on copper to fight the recent mildew attack on the Portable Vineyard vines,  notably, the Shiraz/Syrah vines. Since the first two sprays, separated by ten days as recommended, the old infected leaves and any new ones that have also been seen to be infected, have been removed by hand. This has been a painful lesson, as each vine has a few leaves... But what especially annoyed me last week was the rubbish collection service! The bin was emptied, but all the infected leaves and canes fell out as the truck emptying mechanism, or the operator, let leaves (and cat litter gravel and poo) actually spill over the street as it was emptied! Hmph!!

Anyway, it looks like the canes have enough energy to put new sprouts out on them all! There is still more to do, and I think a daily walk through the yard should keep the disease out!