Planting Day!

May 2nd and 3rd rank high in our family's list of most exciting days!  We planted our very first vines!  It was much simpler than I imagined.

Tracked out and boxed vines ready to be planted

Rusty marked where each plant should go by going across the rows with a chisel and the tractor's GPS beforehand. All of the underground irrigation was done in the months prior.  The drip line was rolled out just days before the planting began.

Here they are making the marks with the chisel

Here they are actually planting.  The person putting the plants into the ground just had to watch for the mark, and plant the vine accordingly.  The vines are planted every four feet, and the rows of vines are 10 feet apart.  The tractor was running on GPS, so every vine is perfectly lined up in all directions.

Rusty planting with Ty, Michael and Tyler's help

Here's a better view of the planter

At first glimpse, the vines look like dead sticks with a few roots hanging off the bottom.  They had to work quickly so the vines didn't dry out in the heat.

Vine shelters

After the vines were planted, a piece of rebar had to go right next to each one.  Then we added a vine shelter to each.

We planted about 5,000 vines on 5.5 acres in less than 24 hours.  It took a few days to get all of the rebar and vine shelters on, but it got done.  It was fast, furious and hot!

Cooling off during a pickup ride

This guys was a trooper!

Helping Grandpa

It went very smoothly and I was amazed how fast the process went!

Here is Michael planting with Ty and Rusty helping

I even got a chance to help out and hand vines to Michael while he planted...  Nobody took a picture, but I had a heck of a sunburn to prove it!

And this girl was princess of the four wheeler and willingly ran back and forth to the pickups and tractors with water bottles :)

It was a fun filled, exhausting weekend.  We learned so much, and it was fun to see this place really start taking shape!

Next month we should get to move into our house.  It's going to be amazing to walk out on the porch and see these beautiful vines!  I can't wait!