Busy watering the vines by bowser at the moment – not the most interesting job – feel guilty praying for rain when most people want sun but getting a bit desperate now for farmers!

2500 vines – Solaris, Regent, Rondo and Seyval Blanc were planted by about 80 volunteers in just 4 hours. The weather stayed fine for planting although the ground is very dry – desperately need rain. BBQ and a few bottles of Pebblebeds finest fizz rounded the day off – great to see the vines in the ground!

Our Partners numbers have grown to about 25 including individuals, local businesses and educational organisations (Bicton College and Plymouth University).

The field will now be ploughed in mid April and planting will take place first week of May.

We are still pleased to welcome new members – if you would like further information please do contact me (geoff@pebblebed.co.uk) or call into the Cellar

Vine Types – i think there was a consensus to have a few different vine varieties to allow us to produce sparkling but also white rose and possibly a summer red.  To this end i have ordered Rondo and Regent grafted vines – red varieties and Seyval and Solaris grafted vines – white varieties.   We have grown Seyval and Rondo for some years and this makes our rose and sparkling rose.  Regent and Solaris come highly recommended as new grape varieties resistant to disease.

Weed Control – we discussed various options including the use of mypex woven black plastic under the vines,  just spraying roundup, or wood chip mulch – i think we are leaning towards the plastic!

We also briefly discussed ground cover as a green fertiliser between the vines – perhaps looking at a mix of clovers and something attractive like poppy seeds/mustard.

We have a great group! and I am  looking forward to the next stage of marking out the vineyard and preparing the soil.  To this end we plan to have a meeting at the vineyard to “walk the ground” in early March.

Finally we have sorted the land so I have now walked over the field and visualised the new vineyard.  The new Pebblebed Partner Vineyard will be adjacent to our existing vineyard at Clyst St George.

This is an exciting time – we have over the years planted-up 6 new fields and its exciting to stand in what is an arable or grass field thinking ahead a few years to what it will look like with rows of vines.  For me there is something special in creating a vineyard, and in future, looking at the hopefully neatly kept rows of vines – the new buds coming out in May – the flowering in July and the grapes (hopefully) in September!

The programme for planting the vineyard is as follows:

1.  Jan/ Feb – Plan the vineyard and order the vines. -

2.  March/ April – Prepare the land – deep ploughing to break up any soil pan – testing the soil – adjusting the soil for minerals and fertility – and finally harrowing the soil.

3.  April/ early May – Decide on any green manure cover crops – the use of plastics beneath the rows or possibly i would like to try woodchip (for environmental reasons).

4.  Early May – Plant the vines!

Please note we will not start the vineyard off as Organic – I have tried this in the past and found it almost impossible due to the necessity to efficiently control weeds and particularly slugs over a large area – however we will look to minimise any chemical inputs through good management.  I hope this is acceptable.