Grapes!
This weekend we planted four grape wines in the backyard! We have three Concord grapes and one Mars Grape vines.
How we planted:
We planted the grapevines on a hill that slopes facing westward. The reason for this is so that we can have plenty of drainage whenever it rains, and the westward direction just happens to be the way the hill goes. Nothing we can do about that. This hill also is on the back/left side of the house, so it gets a lot of morning and afternoon sun. Everything looks warm and clear now, but we'll have a better idea once the leaves all come out. It should still get full sun (8+ hours) in this location.
Putting it in the ground is fairly easy to start. We used a garden compost that has sand mixed in, then we added grit (pea pebbles) and cow manure. This allows the compost to have good drainage while having rich nutrition to start. Of course, we watered it thoroughly to ensure the roots have good contact with the soil, and it sets the plant while it's getting used to its new home. Plants were placed about 10 feet apart in the shape of a square. Our hill isn't that big to be able to put all four plants in a line.
Finally, we stuck in some bamboo poles to get it started while we work on building a trellis for the grapevines to grow onto. We'll have pictures when that project gets finished.
The big hole in the ground by the bamboo pole is a mysterious resident who decided to move in soon after we planted the concord grape. Chipmunk?
This was a lot of fun! We haven't ever planted grapes or any kind of fruity vine like this before. We grew some moonflowers and morning glories last year, but this was very different. Making sure we had the right type of soil, plenty of trellises, calculating sunlight by watching it at different times of the day...there was so much to prepare! Anywho, I'm glad we did it and we're excited to show the progress. Any thoughts?
Weather report: Cold and dry.
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