RAIN!

Rain, Rain, Rain, RAIN!

We sure have received more than our fair share of rain this season in Rockbridge County, Virginia! The rain has delayed our winter pruning schedule, because you shouldn't prune trees when they are wet – it spreads disease.

The orchard floor is always covered with a blanket of vegetation, so there is no soil erosion when we get a lot of rain. That's good.

But it's too soggy to use the tractor to spread organic nutrients around the trees.  And it's to wet to spray the bare tree trunks and branches. An organic spray in Winter can help stop some harmful insects from damaging the trees come the Spring.

I shouldn't really complain about all the rain we have been having.

The rain is recharging the ground water that will supply the apple trees with moisture this summer. For the last 30 years in my part of the county, there has always been a period of very dry weather in late summer. I'm grateful for the plentiful groundwater during those times of drought.

And I love the sound of rain on the tin roof of the Vinegar Brewery...