What can I say besides boy is it hot! After no rain in May, plenty of rain in June and now over a week in the 90's everyone is steaming in the vineyard. The plants don't mind because most vineyards have irrigation or are old vines with extensive root systems. Actually, the heat will do the vines some good after such a cool spring. It is hard to stay motivated out there. Even the cover crops are starting to take a hit. Here are a few shots of clover under the trellis down at Channing Daughters Winery. These photos were taken on July 12th just before we moved into our second week of a heat wave.

The clover seems to be holding up well. This is the second season at this site and it came back nicely this year. Weeds are not as much of a problem in this trial but there is some mugwort that may be hard to control since it isn't being mowed.