When the heavens open and the rain on the ground at Wild Fox Wines Vineyards swells and starts to run down the rows like mini creeks, it is frustrating to watch.

If only I could harvest this liquid gold that flows relentlessly past carrying valuable top soil with it creating laval like fans at the end of the rows.

Maybe I could auger holes in front of every vine, but for occupational and safety reasons I’d need to cap them. To cap them I’d need to have a solid surround for the cap to fit into. In order to prevent the wells filling with silt extensive use of cover crops in the mid rows are utilised. The use of cover crops not only enables the suppression of weeds, with the layering of a mulch with slashing and rolling assists and enhances the conservation of water by reducing evaporation and provides protection for the micro and macro flora in the soil.

Various breakouts of couch grasses required the use of Best Management Practices for Organic Vineyards and I inserted tubes through the couch to enable entrapment of water to enable supply of water to the root zone of the vine. Hence the creation of Aqua Kerb.