Well it has started, listening to the radio this morning I heard a vigneron talking about her first harvest, Muscat Petite Gris, as usual the journalist asked her how is the harvest, very disappointing she replied, Spring was too cold and wet, and then the heat of the last month has not matured the grapes well.

Well no surprise there then. I have never heard a vigneron do anything but moan. Never; not once has a vigneron said to me, well this year has been great, the grapes are perfect, the harvest was superb, the wine excellent and we have had great sales. Nope, it is always a “catastrophe”, it has been too cold, too dry, too wet, too hot.

Well they had a point round here last year, a mild Spring that saw the vines blossom early was back stopped by the heavy frosts of the 28th and 19th April that destroyed the vine flowers and devastated the harvest.

But the weather in the Corbieres is extreme, from baking Summers to freezing Winters. It is true that global warming is having an effect, around 1.8C general rise in the last hundred years or so. However it is not so much the climate that hits hard, it is weather. our plants can survive the most incredible weather, if it changes slowly giving them time to adapt. Plants have a more complex ADN than humans because they have to deal with everything in place, but they are not intelligent. What plants find very difficult is rapid changes, and what we have had this year is rapid change. A lot of plants when faced with this sort of weather just stop growing and wait for more consistent conditions.

This year we had the hottest January for a century. here at Montrouch we had mother plants such as Lemon Verbena, Salvia Elegans, Pineapple sage, and the perfumed pélargoniums come out of their Winter hibernation two months ahead of usual. Down in the village the Mimosa was in flower, much to Caroline’s clients delight as she handed out free bushels of it in her market in Narbonne.

Then bang, February arrived, -12C for a week. Everything that we didn’t bring into the house died back, seeds in the polytunnel, apart from the parsley and chives refused to germinate. Then it started to rain, cold rain. The water was very welcome, the year before the frosts of April heralded a long drought, it did not rain again until November. So this Spring’s rain was very welcome. The water table rose at last, and the Spring flowers, well I have never seen anything like it, the prairie beneath us was a wash of colour. There were varieties of orchids I have never seen before.

But the rain and cold just kept going, through March and into April. In the polytunnel things were just not happening, sure the tomatoes, 13 varieties, and cucumber, 5 varieties, germinated but then they did not budge. I think they were striking in solidarity with the cheminots of SNCF. The basil also would germinate, then turn yellow in the cold. The courgettes on the other had were just fine.

All told we have been a good month late this year, everything did finally start to grow, the Limon Verbena, Pineapple sage, and perfumed pélargoniums all came back and their cuttings are taking, but we have a lot less than usual, they are smaller than normal as their growing period has been limited.

And now we have the heat, the mints have shrunk back to mere twigs no matter how much water is poured on them, the verbena is suffering, watering just goes on and on, every bit of shade in the garden is stuffed with pallets of delicate plants. The polytunnel is an empty dust desert with a few hardy weeds going brown. Don’t mention coriander to me, just don’t.

Well there is a certain inevitability that some things will not work. We grow around 70 different types of herbs and a few flowers. Every year there will be one or two that just feel contrary. Nought you can do about that apart from try and work out why and take the appropriate measures, it can be as simple as they are in too windy a spot, you have the soil mix wrong, they are getting the wrong water balance, or they are just feeling pig headed this year.

But of course you don’t concentrate on the 95% of the plants that are doing just fine. It is always the problems that occupy your mind and your conversations at the aperro hour. I am beginning to sound like a vigneron.

So how is it going Pete?

Merde it is a “catastrophe”.