One of our primary goals for the vineyard this year is to put a heavy emphasis on building and maintaining our soil health. Our first action step – cover crop! We are planting a mixture of ryegrass, clover and radish in the rows between the vines.
I took the picture below while walking along behind the seeder which was broadcasting all those seeds mentioned above in a nice straight line down the middle of each row of grapes. You get a real feeling for the Hillier soil type. It’s loaded with chunks of limestone and very consistently rocky. Yet, with a little sun and rain, a nice cover crop will pop up.
Cover crop is extremely beneficial in building soil health. It will help to reduce erosion of the soil, increase the organic matter content, improve soil structure, reduce compaction caused by our heavy tractors, increase soil nutrients, enhance moisture holding capacity of the soil, improve microbial biomass and activity and overall just create a happier, healthy soil.
The next time you visit Harwood you will see a nice, lush splash of green down the center of the row!
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