Native Cover Crops | Blue Field Madder
We are shoot thinning in earnest right now. Our eyes are focused on the low growing trunks and canes. Looking down all day, we are especially appreciative of the often overlooked.
Read MoreNative cover crops | Catchweed Bedstraw
Catchweed bedstraw is not super prevalent at Hardscrabble Vineyard. In some instances it does get a bit too tall for my liking. It barely qualifies to be included in my list of desirable native cover crops.
Read MoreNative cover crops | Chickweed
Chickweed is one of my favorites. It germinates in late March, grows profusely in April, then browns and dies in early May leaving a natural dense mulch under the vines.
Read MoreNative cover crops | Dead Nettle
Deadnettle is the first of a season long sequence of native cover crops at Hardscrabble Vineyard. Emerging in early March, it is delicate with tiny purple flowers.
Read MoreNative cover crops in the Vineyard
We’re still pruning, but the bittersweet end is in sight. Most of the pruning cuts are made at the vine heads, which are waist high, so we spend most of the day looking down or on our knees. We therefore get very intimate with the emerging flora now growing on the vineyard floor. This growth under the vines is called cover crops.
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