Plants I'm Growing: Early Figs (June 30, 2013)

In the back yard, we have a fig tree, a variety called "Black Jack," which has dark figs rather like mission figs, but bigger. I chose this one because the tree stays small. It's been in the ground about seven years now, but it remains small enough that I can harvest the figs mostly without the use of a ladder. Normally, a few figs form in the spring. they usually stay small, shrivel and never ripen. The main crop comes late in the summer--usually sometime in August. For some reason, we've had viable early figs this year--not a lot (so far about ten)--but good-sized fruit that has ripened beautifully. I had six for breakfast this morning, doused with yogurt and honey. Fruit has set well this year on all the fruit trees, actually. We have pluots on the "Dapple Dandy" tree for the first time in many years. The "Flavor Queen" tree is groaning under the weight of all the fruit on it. About 200 Santa Rosa plums sit in the kitchen. I'm making jam from the bruised ones. We have apples and pears on the way, too. Perhaps it was because we had little rain while the trees were flowering this year? The grape vines have set a lot of fruit as well.

Wines I'm Making: Grapes Coming Along Nicely (June 30, 2012)

This year was the first year in several that we had almost no rain during flowering of the grape vines. As a result, fruit set has been good. Tomorrow is only July 1st--with at least three months to go before harvest--but the grapes are already looking well-formed. The photo shows a cluster on one of our Sangiovese vines.

Wines I'm Making: A Dilemma

Finally, the weather has cleared. It now seems safe to say that summer is here and that the chance of further rains is negligible. Time to spray the grapes again with sulfur to prevent mold from forming on the plants. With that in mind I went out to inspect the small vineyard out back yesterday and was both happy and dismayed to see that the vines are in full bloom (grape flowers are not much to look at, but without them there would be no grapes and no wine). The problem is, spraying the vines while in bloom runs the risk of seriously reducing fruit set. That's to be avoided, but the vines do need protection. I've decided to wait, however, as the weather remains fairly cool, there is still some sulfur on the vines (not ALL of it was washed away by the rains), and there has been a decent breeze the past few days. I will wait until flowering is finished to spray. I hope that will prove to have been the right decision.