Wine from 200 Vines Part 3: Trellis Installation

It's Winter so its time to get our vineyard trellising installed, ready for our Spring planting.

The vine rows have all been fertilised with the neighbour's manure which has then been dug in via a rotary hoe:

Scale is the key factor here. We have 8 rows that require 16 trellis ends, or "end assemblies" as they are known around here. This is too much for us to do by ourselves with a pick and shovel, so we have to pay a fencing contractor for this job. However, the scale is not so big that we need them to do the wiring. Instead, we can complete that ourselves.

As you can see, the trellis ends are using a pole as a diagonal brace. This gives a less bulky structure that a traditional box shape and is more elegant to look at.

The final height of the end posts is 1800 mm above the ground (2400 mm total length) and the short posts are 200 mm. They are spaces 2800 mm.

Next, we add the steel posts between the trellis ends. Steel is better than the CCA treated posts as it is recyclable. CCA pine cannot be burned and therefore must be put in landfill if it is removed from the ground. We want to minimise the environmental impact of our farm, so steel is the best option.

The posts below are Waratah Gripfast 2400 mm vine trellis posts.

Now we add wire. We are reusing 2.85 mm high-tension fencing wire that we salvaged from a fence that we removed. This is the standard diameter for the fruiting (cordon) wire, and should be adequate for the irrigation wire. It might be a bit large for the fruiting wires but we'll see how we go.

Again, because this is small scale, we can use ratchet tensioners for each wire. This would be cost-prohibitive in a large winery, but we only need 32. 

We've also dug a trench to get our irrigation system installed.

The irrigation tubing is 13 mm for each vine row with 19 mm across each end. This will be fed from a 32 mm pipe from the water tank.

The drip tube is tied to the drip wire with cable ties.

Ok. So now we have our vineyard trellised and plumbed and ready for the next step... Planting !

When your dam runs dry... dig a new dam

Here is our problem:

Plus we have a problem of a "scrape and fill" dam, which means it is very shallow - about 1.5 meters in a typical season.

Dams that are shallow evaporate quickly. A dam 3 meters deep will typically lose 60% over Summer while one 5 metres deep will lose 40%. So a 1.5 metre deep dam will lose...... everything!

So we have decided to fix the problem by pushing in the dam wall and digging a new dam.

This is fundamentally driven by the current dam being built over a stone reef which make digging down hard, and by the fact that the current wall is like a dike in Holland. It is unnecessarily high and aesthetically ugly.

The new dam will provide the following outcomes:

• Capacity of 4.5 Ml
• Deep
• Can swim in it during Summer
• Aesthetically integrated with the landscape
• Can be seen from the house as a feature

This approach was conceived by us but confirmed by both a local water expert and by the contractor who will dig the dam and move the earth.

Future posts will show the process.

Dams to Wetlands: Part 3 - Time to Plant

November and December are the best months to plant in and around the water of the dam.

As the dam water receeds, the space becomes accessible and new plantings have a chance to become established before being inundated by the Autumn rains.

The objective of the plantings is to:

1. Stabilise the soil around the dam
2. Create habitat for native wilflife, particularly  frogs
3. Become water purifiers
4. Improve the aesthetics of the space

We took the chance to put in about 70 plants as close to the water as possible. These included the River Bottle Brush (Callistemon sieberi) as we as various rushes (Juncus) species sourced from the local nursery and being of local provenance.

All these plants have the benefits of being fast-growing, while the Juncus is particularly easy to plant, not requiring staking or covering. The local Macropods also don't seem too interested when there is tastier grass to be found elsewhere.

The area we chose to plant was the gentle slope down the hill, which is basically a mud flat, full of silt and nutrients. This is in contrast to the dam-wall side, which is rocky and would be more difficult for the plants to establish.

The plantings on the mud-flat area should quickly spread and start to fill that space.

Rushes planted in the silt

Several Rush species

See the new plants to the right and below the dam

We'll check back in a few months and see how these are progressing.

An Australian Weather Parser for the RainMachine

I had previously written a comparison of various smart watering systems and have selected the Rainmachine HD-12 as my preferred option.

While there is no local support, I have been able to get the RainMachine working well here by replacing the 110v plug pack with a 240v one from Jaycar.

The RainMachine uses internet feeds for weather predictions and is very U.S,-focussed, as expected, with the majority of weather services localised to the U.S. However, being open to developers there is the opportunity to write your own weather parser for a weather service of your choice.

Here in Australia there is a weather service called Willy Weather and I have written a parser for Australia based on the JSON API from willyweather.com.au.

Instructions and code can be found here: https://github.com/safepay/rainmachine

Willy Weather provide a commercial API that uses the Bureau of Meteorology data and wraps it in a modern API framework that is easy for developers to consume. The first 5000 calls are free, then the cost varies based on data requested, but is around $0.05 per 1000 calls.

This parser I have written detects your location based on your lat/long settings and suggests the closest station ID's. You then enter and save the station ID of your choice and the parser does the rest.

I hope that this can assist anyone else looking for a local Australian weather source for their RainMachine.

I use this parser along with Open Weather Map for good results.

Wine from 200 Vines Part 2: Layout and Soil Preparation

One of the challenges over the last summer has been the hot, dry north sun killing many of the plants in our garden. Advice from Bruce at Chalmers Vineyard suggests that some new vineyards are being planted in an East-West orientation instead of the tradtional North-South to enable leaves to shade fruit during the hot, dry months of February to April, leading up to harvest.

Therefore the site was pegged out in an East-West orientation.

The goal here was to mark out the rows to enable a tractor to come in and rip. Ripping breaks the compacted soil and allows nutrients and moisture to deeply penetrate the land. In turn, the vines will be able to send roots down to find water, thereby minimising irrigation - a key goal in the process.

Row spacing is 3 metres as advised from several wineries. Overall row length for ripping is calulated on a vine spacing of 1.5 metres, plus an extra 1 metre before and after the first and last vines respectively. This means for 25 vines the length is (24 x 1.5) + (2 x 1) = 38 metres. Pegs were then put in an addtional 3 metres before and after this to avoid them being dug up by the tractor, which means peg spacing of 38 + (2x3) = 44 metres.

We are trying to avoid ripping in the areas where the fencing end-assemblies will be, to ensure they are in stable ground.

Measuring the row spacing and marking with chalk.

Using string to align the pegs.

Now that the site is pegged out the ripping can occur. This is done via a single, winged tine (known as a Yeoman's Plough) which can rip to about 500mm deep. The rig is also fitted with a spinning plough to help break up the topsoil and kill weeds. The tractor made two passes over the ground to ensure a deep rip.

Here are some photos of the ripping process:

The finished result.

Now we have prepared the soil, we move on to a standard approach for growing fruit trees. Add gypsum, adjust the pH, fertilise and sow a green manure crop.

Gypsum was bought in bulk from Dellavedova in Maryborough. 350kg for $27 is great value. This was applied evenly to all 8 rows.

A pH tester (bought from the local Home Hardware) showed the soil at three different locations to be a surpriing pH7. It was fully expected that the pH would be acidic (< 7) and that lime would be required. It was good to avoid this step.

Finally, a full trailer load of chicken manure was bought for $13.20 from Hazeldene's Chicken Farm at Bendigo. This is great value because they will fill whatever size tray you have for that price. This is also a good way to ferilise the area as the chook poo is mixed with a lot of grain husks from the chicken feed which adds an additional amount of organic matter to the soil which will rot away over time.

At the same time as the fertiliser is added, a green manure crop is also sown.

Green manure crops are a mixture of seeds from cereal and legumes that help to fix nitrogen in the soil and are also ploughed back in 6 weeks after sowing to add further organic matter.

The green manure seed mixture was bought from Bush's Produce in Bendigo. They recommended 100g per square metre. We have 320 square metres, therefore we need 3.2kg. We purchased 10kg for $25 so that we could sow additional crops if necessary.

This was a mixture of barley, wheat, oats, peas and lupins, 50:50 cereals:legumes.

Here is a photo of fertilising and sowing:

Sowing a green manure crop.

Now that the preparation works are complete we are relying on Autumn and Winter rains to wet the soil and germinate the seeds.

We expect to be ploughing the manure crop in 6 weeks, before any hard stems develop which facilitates the decomposition process.

Wine from 200 Vines Part 1: Site and Vine Selection

I was standing in the front paddock a few months ago and realised that there was a gentle, North-facing slope. Why not plant some vines?

Hiking through vines in the Asti Region of Northern Italy

This is the first of probably many posts as we embark on our home vineyard journey.

Who, at some point, has not dreamed of the idea of growing their own grapes and making wine? The idea of looking down on the green vines from your summer deck, with a glass of wine in hand, thinking of the harvest. Or tending to the bare vines in the middle of winter, preparing for the next years crop?

To begin I did a lot of reading. Probably the best document I found is this one, published in all places, Queensland! Not really known for their wine, but the practices of growing grapes and making wine are quite standardised. The document is 20 years old, but the information it contains has agreed with every conversation I have had with local wine growers.

The other fantastic source of information has been from the local winemakers: Don at Welshman's Reef, Bruce at Chalmers and the kind people at Harcourt Valley Vineyard.

Next come the key questions:

1. What varietal and clone to plant?
2. What rootstock to pair it with?
3. How many vines to order?

Firstly, we needed to determine what we want to grow and how many vines, so that we could place an order with a suitable grower this year before the end of June, so that our vines could be grafted and grown ready for planting in Spring 2019 (yes, 2019!).

The first question was one variety or two? The answer - One. Because you can make two wines from the one batch of juice. For example, a red and a rose. This gives some flexibility to the process depending on yearly yield and also simplifies the harvesting and fermenting processes.

There are so many varietals as well as root stocks, but we have chosen Sangiovese clone Matura 7 (Mat 7). This is because Sangiovese is less common in central Victoria (Shiraz being dominant) but grows well, particularly in the Heathcote area. Secondly, it is a forgiving grape, like Shiraz, but unlike Tempranillo which can be low in acidity. The Mat 7 clone was suggested as it simply makes great wine and has vibrant, dark fruit. This is a clone that is being grown both locally and in the King Valley region.

Rootstock is another key selection criteria. Our objective is to grow un-irrigated, once established, therefore a recommended rootstock is Richter 110. This sends down deep roots and therefore tolerates drier conditions. It is also of medium to high vigour, meaning that the yield should be good despite the low water use.

To determine how many vines to plant we sat down with Ron and Julia from Welshman's Reef Winery and did some back-of-the-envelope calculations:

Assuming we get 3kg fruit per vine...
200 vines would give 600kg fruit...
Assuming 60% juice yield, this gives 360 litres juice...
Which can fit in either a Barrique (225 litres) or a Barrel (360 litres), as we are aiming for barrel aged wine which makes a more professional wine than oak chips.

Therefore if we have a good year we can use most of the juice to make a red wine and the remainder
to make a rose.

So, we have now ordered 200 Sangiovese Mat 7 + R110 clones from Chalmers Nursery based in Mildura, which will be picked up by us in October 2019.

In the next post we will cover vineyard layout and preparation.

Landscape restoration: Managing erosion

Today we had the fun and privilege of another Muckleford Landcare workshop run by the very talented leadership team.

The workshop focused on how water can erode a landscape and what actions we can take to control this powerful eroding force.

Water is destructive

Our visit to a member's property showed us several problems that have been caused historically by deforestation due to gold mining as well as stock grazing and general land clearing.

The lack of plants has one significant effect, erosion, which is caused by the inability of the terrain to slow down the water as it descends the natural catchment areas.

Water travelling at speed has two flow-on effects (grown... pun) - erosion and lack of ground penetration. Both prevent the germination of plants - our ideal warrior against this foe.

The signs of erosion to look for on your property are:

• Tunnelling - water concentrates its force and erodes a hole under the ground, similar to the effect a garden hose would have at high pressure
• Capping - where the ground is completely free of vegetation and therefore highly susceptible to erosion
• Blow-out - where an earth wall has been built to contain the water, such as in a dam, but where the engineering has failed when exposed to high water volumes
• Gullys - water has descended a hill or natural depression at high speed and eroded the ground to form a deep gully

Gully erosion in the Muckleford forest

Erosion prevents natural landscape recovery

Nearly all these problems prevent the resowing or germination of any plant species, including grasses, making this a continuous issue which, if left unmanaged, will result in dirt and sediment continuing to contaminate the existing waterways which feed the local drinking water and provide irrigation for farmers.

While major erosion, such as gullys, is an obvious symptom, the problem of "capping" is wide-spread across many properties and should be drawn to the attention of any conscientious land holder.

Capped area with preventative measures

Taking a whole-of-landscape approach

The natural tendency when looking to solve the problems of erosion is to tackle the obvious issues first, such as the gullys, however, these bigger symptoms are caused by the end result of water cascading down a catchment area and gathering speed, often over capped, bare ground.

To deal with downstream erosion we need to lift our gaze higher up the catchment area and observe the landscape to identify points which cause the water to speed up.

There can also be a tendency when dealing with major erosion to bring in earth moving equipment and attempt to address the issue (or symptom) by major reworking of the area.

By dealing with symptoms we can incur significant cost, disturb the ground causing even more erosion and, fundamentally, not address the core problems.

Slowing the water

To prevent water forming powerful channels and eroding our farms we need to disperse the flow. By spreading out the flow over a wider area we can address the two major issues of speed and ground penetration.

A cost-effective, although time-consuming approach that any landholder can apply is to use local materials to help disperse the water. Branches laid across the water's course, up-stream of capped areas, can disperse the water. As this process is repeated down a hill, the cumulative effect can be greatly enhanced.

Dispersing water with branches (and a native animal)

We are not trying to dam the water as solid structures will likely be washed away in the next big downpour. Instead a loose collection of twigs and branches is sufficient to break the flow of the water and create calm areas in which plants can self-sow and begin the restoration process.

Time and patience

The approach above does rely on a fair amount of work and then time to come to fruition. The above photo shows a treatment that took four hours a day for four months. Once stick at a time!

Over time the treated areas will naturally attract sediment and plant matter, creating ideal seeding zones for self-sown plants as well as the opportunity for tube-stock planting.

We would expect to wait approximately two years before assessing the effect of the treatment prior to any type of planting intervention. Many landscapes can recover by themselves once they are given the opportunity.

Key workshop take-aways

• Take a whole-of-landscape approach
• Tackle the sickness, not the symptom
• Don't jump straight on to the big problems first
• Start your treatments higher up the catchment zone and work down
• Expensive treatments are not always the best
• Do a little every day
• Be patient

Thanks again to everyone at the workshop for their time and energy. Happy landscaping!

Dams to Wetlands: Part 2 - Planting around a dam

In this post, I'll cover some of the plant types that can go in to the various zones around a dam that I covered in the previous post - Part 1.

Planting around an old dam Sunday 23rd July 2017

The above photo shows the Sunday morning setup for a lesson on dam planting hosted by Dave and Beth from Muckleford Landcare. It was very informative and I thought it was worthwhile to reiterate some of the planting options here.

The best plants are ones that are indigenous. These are not to be confused with natives. Some natives are unsuitable and considered weeds. Consult your local nursery or Landcare group to find out which indigenous plants are right for your area. Below, I will cover those plants suited to the Victorian Goldfields, however, the basic theory of planting will be the same regardless of location.

Indigenous plants are good because they tend to establish well, tolerate the local conditions and require zero maintenance. If you need to water a plant once it has been planted (always water at planting time), then you have the wrong plant.

In the buffer zone plant trees and shrubs and, as mentioned in Part 1, place them to the North-West to provide shade and a wind break to minimise summer evaporation.

In addition to the trees and shrubs, it is vital to plant grasses to stabilise the soil and begin that water filtering process. In our area Poa labillardierei (Common Tussock Grass) is ideal.

In the batter zone and down in to the wetter parts, various species of Rushes (Juncus sp), Sedges (Carex sp), Spike Rushes (Eleocharis sp), Sea Club Rushes (Bolboschoenus sp), Flat Sedges (Cyperus sp) and for wetter areas, Jointed Twig Rush (Baumea articulata) are ideal. These plants are riparian, a term nurseries may know which means plants that live next to water.

In the permanent water zone, Water Ribbons (Triglochin sp), Water Milfoils (native Myriophyllum sp) and Ribbonweeds such as Vallisneria americana (Eel Grass) are suitable.

Once established, you will find that many additional plants will self-seed as a result of natural events such as flowering and transmission by birds.

You can even take Wallaby Grass slashings and lay them around the areas you want planted and natural reseeding will occur.

Here are some more photos from our planting day. Note that there are some additional very local plants here in addition to those mentioned above.

Tube-stock is best, resulting in stronger plants

Always protect plants unless you want them eaten...

Enjoy your planting!

Dams to Wetlands: Part 1 - What Makes a Good Dam?

Dams on farms have traditionally been used for farming practices - primarily stock watering and crop irrigation. As such, they were often placed on the land where these needs were best met or where they could easily be fed from a water source.

Nowadays, with a growing number of people looking for lifestyle improvement on their rural properties, dams have become a critical factor in both the aesthetics of the property and in supporting native flora and fauna. This means that health, position and appearance matter far more than in the past, but that traditional placement and management may be at odds with our new-found love for nature.

This is the first of many (I hope) blogs on the process of transforming dams to wetlands. In this edition, I want to cover some of the essential criteria of dams that make them well suited to being wetlands. However, I should point out that any dam can be a wetland if you want to make the effort!

Dam zones

A dam consists of several zones that each contribute differently to the ecology. Each zone requires a different approach to planting and maintenance with the goal of making the dam as healthy as possible.

Catchment zone

This is the surrounding paddock. The area where rain will fall and run in to the dam. This area needs to be grazed to a minimum, as the plant life and soil are critical for straining the run-off to keep chemical residue and sediment from running down in to the dam.

Buffer zone

This area is typically from the high-water mark out to 20 metres. From an ecology point of view, this is perhaps the most important area and needs to be fenced to exclude stock.

Once stock is excluded, this area will often naturally re-vegetate with plants that are well-suited, such as native trees, shrubs and grasses, however, some extra planting here can't hurt to give nature a helping hand.

One area of focus should be the north-west corner of the dam, which should be planted with groups of trees and shrubs to create both shade and a wind-break to protect the dam from evaporation on hot, summer days when the wind is blowing from the north west.

Another key function of this area is water filtration. Planting tussock-forming grasses in this area will help filter the sediment from the water, creating a cleaner dam, as well as stabilising the soil.

In this area, you can also add tree logs and other structural elements as habitat forming features that will help protect birds and and provide shelter for many animals.

Batter zone

This zone is between the low and high water marks. This area is nutrient rich and is best suited to planting native rushes, sedges and reeds. You will need to experiment with these plants as some might not survive water inundation when the dam is full, but this is dependent on your specific circumstances.

Permanent water zone

Fairly self-explanatory, this area is wet all year round.

Plants in this area can both filter the water and provide protection from wave action caused by the wind.

Location and permission

In Victoria, we can typically build dams and ponds up to 3 mega-litres without a permit, as long as they are not within a waterway or natural gully. A natural gully is not just a furrow on your land that feeds the dam, but a significant depression in the landscape that is part of the waterway system, even if it is dry most of the year. Check your local regulations.

The location for your dam depends on a number of factors determined by the use of the dam.

If your dam is for irrigation, then an elevated position is ideal as it allows gravity to feed the areas you want to irrigate, or at a minimum means minimal pumping heights.

You will need to consider how your dam is fed from the catchment zone. Some big dams are located in areas of minimal catchment and never fill, leaving a more unappealing view.

An alternative to a big dam might be a series of small, connected ponds. Tapping in to a catchment via a man-made "creek" can feed your ponds with the overflows connecting the chain. This can create a very aesthetically pleasing sequence of water-features that may be cheaper to create, fit the landscape better and provide a better habitat for the flora and fauna you are hoping to attract.

And again, this should be to be completed without a permit (but please get your own local advice on this).

Construction

One issue many landholders face is who will build their dam? Many contractors with diggers are great at digging holes, and may be able to construct the dam correctly in terms of sealing, overflow and overall soundness. However, not many will have the knowledge of where to place the dam and how that impacts on your usage, nor will they be able to make a proper dam, over just a hole in the ground

A key recommendation is to contact your local Landcare group, who should be able to put you in touch with an expert who can guide the process. They should be able to give advice on location, shape and size, based on your specific needs. They may also be able to connect you with an appropriate contractor that can do the job right. The consequences of a bad job are not worth considering.

The ideal dam

When it comes to the ideal dam for a wetland, we are looking for several key points.

The catchment, buffer and batter zones should have a gentle slope in to the water. This prevents rainfall from cascading down the hill at a high velocity, which in turn allows water penetration in to the soil and filtering to occur. This is, therefore, critical in preventing erosion and creating a healthy environment.

The gentle slope in to the dam creates the batter and buffer zones where the majority of wildlife will congregate, helping you achieve your goal of a wetland. Plants like rushes and sedges will grow in this area.

The dam should, in turn, not be a hole in the ground, like a pudding bowl, but be more like a... dam, with a wall on one side allowing water to naturally accumulate. Even dams in paddocks can be constructed with gentle sloping sides, even if they are on all sides.

While many dams are dug out like swimming pools to maximise water retention by minimising evaporation, many deep dams never fill as they are too big for the catchment area, leaving more of an eyesore than a wetland. Don't build your dam bigger than it needs to be - consider the cascading pond option instead.

If you want to swim in the dam, consider a floating pontoon to get out in to the water and avoid the shallow, muddy or planted areas.

Old dams and dam maintenance

If you have an old dam on your property that has been neglected, you might be faced with some issues that could cost you money in the future.

The number one issue is trees and shrubs growing on the dam wall. The roots of these trees can create air spaces around them, as they grow or die back, thereby creating escape paths for the water.

You can check if your dam is leaking by simply looking at the ground below the level of the dam. If it stays green during dry spells, you have a leak.

However, it is not advised to remove these trees as that will weaken the dam wall and may require completely rebuilding the dam.

To maintain the dam wall, simply pull out self-sown plants on the wall annually. There should be nothing more than ground cover on the wall.

There are some options to seal dams. New, high-tech, non-toxic polymers can be sprinkled on a full dam which then sink to the bottom and bind together. Products such as Watersave (I have no affiliation) are interesting options and there seem to be some success stories if you Google this.

Another issue is "guttering", where water is eroding the bare soil around the batter zone. Consider placing small rocks in the gutters that will help to minimise silt run-off while you get your plants established.


In the next blog, I'll talk about planting the dam and how we can get that wetland happening.