Frost and cold and wet and hail

We have discovered we are in a frost valley. And...the frost system we slaved to put in works!!! Woken by the vintners instinct, David had already gone out to see what was happening at 5am. The spray system was working. All the leaves and buds were covered in ice and water dripping off them. It is meant to be like that! At 5.30am Dennis (neighbour and irrigation guru) rang to let us know to leave the system on until all the ice had melted off and not leave the melting process to the sun, as this can damage the fruit and leaves. So David heads out again, this time with the camera! David has set the system up so the water flippers come on when the temperature is 2 degrees, and goes off when it is back up at 4 degrees. However we are learning it is not so much the temperature, more to know when all the ice has been washed off. We are keeping an eye on this today to see how that works. We had a few clues that it may be a frosty night. Hail had poured down for several minutes during the day. I rushed out and put a foil blanket on the citrus trees in the courtyard, hoping to save them. It worked! We are learning more on the perilous life of being horticulturalists!