Pre-pruning

It has turned cold here, so I’m starting to do a bit of pre-pruning. There’s an old French saying

Taille tôt,
Taille tard,
Rein ne vaut la taille de mars.

Prune early,
Prune late,
Nothing’s better than pruning in March.

Perhaps it loses a little something in the translation, but I do like to make the final cuts in March (the pruning wounds are less prone to infection when the sap is rising).

However pre-pruning allows me to gather and burn most of last year's growth during the quiet months of winter. This photo shows last year’s shoots cut back to about 20cm. In March I’ll return and cut these shoots down further, to one bud, removing the potentially infected old wound in the process.

November was quite wet in Burgundy, so there is quite a proliferation of mushrooms in the vineyards. This one is my favourite… apparently it’s called the bird’s nest fungus.