I have spent quite a bit of time in the vineyard the past two days. I am still playing catch up, but I have also started to do some pre-harvest prepping; some leaf removal, a fair amount of canopy management and a little bit of weeding. There were several, persistent stands of shortpod mustard (
Hirschfeldia incana) and spiny sowthistle (
Sonchus asper) to be dealt with. I tripped over a large
mat of sharpoint fluvellin (
Kickxia elatine) myself, so I think it made sense to remove any large weeds that may get in the way of those who will harvest Vinoland's grapes.
Even though it was a bit toasty out in the vineyard (especially yesterday afternoon) I had an enjoyable time and was even able to stop and have a look at the fruit, the odd insect (including the really
odd insect that unexpectedly jumped on me, but which I reflexively flicked away before I could ID it) and the dark red leaf (in the photograph) with the telltale
girdling on its petiole. Darn insects!
