When February came we noticed that many Portuguese farmers started to prune there olive trees. Should we be doing that too? Our neighbour was also thinking about pruning, because he called us to say he would come around to show us how to do it. We were expecting for him to show up with some kind of chain saw, but there he was with a small pruning shear. That would not work on the thick branches of the olive trees, so what was he thinking to prune? Grapevines as it turned out.

Weeds

We didn’t even know we had so many grapevines or where they were, so we kind of had to search around the grounds. Some vines were hidden behind tall weeds that we had let grow all winter. After pulling a lot of those weeds (party time for our chickens), about twenty five grapevines appeared, spread out throughout the land. How weird we had missed them all that time.

Technique

João showed us pruning grapes is fairly straightforward. You want to keep the sturdy base and cut back the side branches to two buds. In practice, however, it was a bit more unruly with vines that had not been pruned properly before and were now a tangle. How far back do you go? And the white grapes that grow around the water tank were also troublesome. The idea is that they form a roof over the water tank, but how will that happen if we cut away so much? Removing dead branches sounds pretty easy, but unfortunately more than often we accidentally cut away a healthy branch. All in all it was a bit harder than we thought.

Recycle

Many of the super long branches were entangled in the fence or in olive trees. Sometimes they were stuck in the ground, swinging to a new destination. After getting everything out, we were left with a huge pile of long branches. As always, our brains immediately searched for something to do with them. Would it be possible to weave something like a wreath or a basket? We gave it a try, but they were too sturdy to bend, even after soaking them. We then decided to weave them through wooden sticks around the vegetable beds in the garden. Perhaps this border would keep Irma out of our growing veggies (spoiler, it didn’t).

Leasons learned

Next year we will have to start pruning our grapevines sooner. There was a lot of ‘bleeding’ when we cut them, so obviously we were a bit too late this time. Let’s see what it means for our harvest this summer. Hopefully we will have a decent quantity for our neighbour to help him in his wine making, so we can pay him back for all his nice wine and pruning lessons.