As winter approaches, farm activities change gears. During the quieter months, the team focuses on the regenerative viticulture practices that will directly influence and improve the quality of future harvests.
One such practice is the selection and planting of suitable cover crops. These plants can act as competition for weeds, competing for resources and suppressing their growth. They even prevent the weeds from germinating entirely. Cover crops can also improve water infiltration and drainage of the soil. Bare soil can often harden into a crust from baking under the hot sun, but planting cover crops forms a protective barrier against the sun and helps prevent erosion. They also play a role in improving vine nutrition by increasing the carbon in the soil, fixating atmospheric nitrogen into their biomass and bringing organic matter into the soil.
For planting the cover crop seeds, we use a no-till piket planter. Tillage is a method of preparing the soil for planting through mechanical agitation (including digging, stirring and overturning). This can affect things like water penetration and contribute to soil erosion, so we opt for no-till planting methods. The piket planter can take up to three types of seeds of varying sizes at once. If you watch our TeleVIEW video, you will see Christo showing the piket planter’s three compartments: the first compartment is loaded with larger fava beans, the second with a mix of seeds of medium sizes (including forage peas, lupins and seredella) and third with a fine mix of radish and medic clover seeds.
All the seeds are mixed and planted in the same block, and with the piket-planter, can be planted in one turn, without repetitive runs across the soil. This means minimum impact and compaction, which is ideal for maintaining good soil health – a critical element of regenerative farming practices.
