A sweet sweet-pea photo

The weather here has been beautiful over the past two weeks: warm and sunny, with days in the 70s and even (in the past couple of days) into the 80s.  On one level, this is scary; we're already seeing the first signs of bud break in some of the higher (warmer) parts of the vineyard, and we're at risk of frost until May.  Expect more on bud break and some photos later this week.  But, between the warmth and all the rain we've gotten this winter, the cover crops have established themselves beautifully and the vineyard is lush and green.

And now, like the rest of the Paso Robles flora, the cover crops are starting to flower.  Here's a pretty shot of a sweet pea, one of the components of our typical cover crop mix because it's a legume, and fixes nitrogen into the soil.