Planting out our cuttings

Planting in the summer is not recommended but we had obtained such good root systems from our cuttings that we didn't see the difference between the compacted soil in our plant pots and what you might buy (and plant) from the garden centre. In any case the alternative of keeping them watered until November and planting them out next March didn't seem very different from placing them in a generous bowl of our special soil mix (compost, topsoil, sand, grit and vermiculite) in our hard clay soil right away when they looked like they may enjoy it.

The first thing you need for digging this soil is a good shovel.

Nonetheless it was a bit disconcerting to find one at the garden centre labelled 'Irish Shovel.'

One of us is an Irish passport holder but feelings of political incorrectness soo evaporated when we encountered this rock. It may not look much to you but it took us an hour to get it out of the ground. That's how expert we are. Now we understood why one Bordeaux Chateau calls itself 'Trop d'ennui' (Trotanoy).

On the first day we plugged the gaps in our row of Rondo with some Pinot Noir.

Pinot Meunier

Then on another occasion we planted some Pinot Meunier next to our two mature Meunier vines. Note - rather too close together but we expect to lose a proportion of these plants anyway so perhaps that won't matter.

Such a pretty vine the Pinot Meunier!

6 Dornfelder in forground

Over on the other side of the garden the soil was easier to dig so these Dornfelder took no time at all to bed in. The only thing is that some rather expensive Divico vines from Germany had failed in that position the previous year. Divico is a crossing of Gamaret and Bronner from Agroscope. the Swiss plant research institute which since 2008, has boasted the great Jose Vouillamoz on its faculty.