WINE GARDEN

[grapeman]

Since you have applied a spray on the grapes, I wouldn't rush to get rid of infected clusters. Chances are good the affected berries will dry, shrivel and fall off, leaving the good grapes. Those clusters may be missing a few berries, but they look good and full to begin with. For being so sick most of the summer, you are doing great taking care of them.


When you pruned heavily, I said they would branch back out. It's a juggling act pruning them to thin. Too early and they bush out and must be pruned again. Too late and you get so much shade it affects production ripening and bud development for next year. Thin them out as you can. I try especially with Frontenac to break the summer laterals out while about a foot or so long. It is much quicker and effective than having to clip each one with the pruning shears.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Went out to survey the spring plantings of fruiting bushes.....

These photos look a little ragged due to neglect...I just recently sprayed the surrounding weeds....

The Nanking Cherries are growing very well...

Sancherries and Native Elderberries are doing well too...

I had painstakingly laid landscape fabric down the rows of these two plantings...However I did not put any mulch over it and it decomposed in a matter of months....so have recently sprayed the weeds and hopefully will get some mulch around the plants next year.

The Domestic Elderberry plants that I set out last year are growing like crazy....However...they are just now blooming...perhaps when the plants get some age on them they will bloom earlier in the season....

These hybrid plants die to the ground each year...will be interesting to see if the native variety will be hardier. A lady nearby has a yard full of Elderberries...I have never asked if the were named varieties or native.

The raspberries are still producing...came on late... just amazing production...

The newly plated Aronia bushes, also from the county SWCD are all growing...will be interesting to see what the wine will be like...

The Beta grapes have never been so large...They are a very nice grape...Concord/Wild Montana cross...very disease resistant....Just sprayed with Baking Soda...so look a little white washed.

The Valiant grape....Fredonia/Wild Montana are very disease prone, needs a faithful spray program...Since I started spraying the disease doesn't seem to be spreading....hopefully it is in check.

So...there will be some grapes if all goes well.....There will be wine.






Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

You are amazing. Going through chemo and worried about how ragged some border shrubs and wildlife plants look! Most folks would kill to have ANY garden look that messy!(In other words neat)!


Hope the grapes give you a bumper crop.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I went out and pruned the grapes today...

The two old rows of juice type grapes have some nice clusters and I trimmed some of the old leaves that seem to be drying out....Will have to put the bird netting up on them soon....No color yet....The mildew seems to be in check.

The old woody Frontenac and King of the North vines that weeped so badly after a severe pruning this spring have recovered nicely...Lots of new growth and when I pruned them there even were a few clusters inside all that canopy. They look like grape vines now instead of a jungle....they were out of control...

I pruned the new row of Frontenac...they were new plants set out last summer and just got wires this spring...so was able to start giving them some little 'arms' on the wires.... Some of them really look cute....finally they are starting look like little grape vines.

It sure looks better out there...Kind of late tending to some of these vines...Better late than never..... it's done now and hopefully I didn't mess them up too badly.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Today's forecast was for 80% chance of rain...seems everyone around us got over an inch already...we had a few sprinkles a couple times today....

Now we actually had a little shower....It hasn't rained for so long that it just smells so good out there....Hopefully we will get more out of this system.....

Jim's birthday today.... It would really make his day to get an inch of rain....

 

[Wade E]

Happy B-day Jim and hope you get your wish.

 

[rgecaprock]

Jim,


Hope you have a wonderful day. Starting with a wonderful Campfire Cafe Breakfast and Finishing with you and your lady's favorite wine.

H a p p y B i r t h d a y !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[swillologist]

Happy Birthday Jim!
I hope you enjoy your day.

 

[NorthernWinos]

During the night the sprinkles turned into drizzle and rain.....It was so great to hear the eves dripping....

We got 1.28" of rain.....What a great gift from the skies.

To the South where the storm just sat for hours they got 7" and are flooding....Too much of a good thing too fast.

 

[grapeman]

So glad you got a good rain overnight! See Jim got his birthday wish! You are welcome to keep some of ours from the east. Still have plenty of it here.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I noticed a couple days ago that some of the Sandcherries were ripening....

Even some of the little volunteer bushes that I dug out and planted in the Wine Garden last spring had a few cherries on them...

I noticed also that some of the cherries are missing....

Birds!!!!

I tasted some off of the young plants and they were soft and ripe.....They pick very easily....just hold the limb over a bucket and fondle them and they drop....

The bigger bushes are ripening unevenly...so will take them as they ripen...

This spring we got rid of the oldest bushes....they say they are short lived. They were 8 or 9 years old and had a lot of dead wood and were ugly, suppose we should have pruned them....The young plants grow so fast and the birds reseed them everywhere, so new plants are available.

I have enough juice from last year for a batch of wine....this 'collecting fruit' thing is getting 'sick'!!!!

 

[Wade E]

Those look yummy!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Went out to harvest a few Sandcherries off the larger plants....

They are so loaded that the limbs are just laying on top of each other....Will harvest the top layer first.....

Noticed the one older plant of Aronia had a few ripe berries on it. Looks like those will be another crop that ripens unevenly....

It looks like a slow growing plant...The 12 newly planted bushes are alive and growing, but think there is a long term wait ahead.

Raspberries are finally almost done...I go out and get a few stragglers...they are pretty soft.

Everbearing strawberries are blooming and as I harvest the garlic I grazed on a few ripe ones....

So it goes in the Wine Garden....

 

[Waldo]

What would you compare the sandcherries to NW to one such as myself who is unlearned about them

 

[Wade E]

Those look good to. Girl you got it going on!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NorthernWinos]

They are like a very mild Chokcherry....But...being as you probably never had a Chokecherry....

I can only say....they are mild and fairly sweet, don't taste much cherry flavor...The juice steams dark purple. Most people make jelly with them.

We use to mix them with the Chokecherries in the wine....Will make a batch or two of Sandcherry wine during the next year with the juice.

The garden centers sell a Purple Leaved Sandcherry, I have one, it's a nice purple leaved shrub, but mine has never produced any berries.

We planted them for the birds and we have always eaten some of them too.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Veriason in the Northland!!!!!

Went out this morning and covered the heaviest cropping vines with bird netting...Much to my surprise the smaller/younger vines are showing more variason that the older vines with a heavier crop...Guess that must be a nature of the vines production.

These are Valiant grapes...</font></font>Fredonia x Wild Montana (Vitis riparia) cross. Small tight clusters...disease prone.

The Beta grapes....</span>a cross of the vitis labrusca-based cultivar Concord and a selection of Vitus rapariahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_riparia, the wild riverbank grape, called Carver).

These are usually very disease resistant, but I might have a small problem on a few clusters....As well there is a few with sun scald.

I can't tell what's going on with the white grapes...the berries are getting bigger, but can't see any color change.

Picked another 5# of Sandcherries...they ripen as you remove the top heavily loaded branches that shade the branches underneath. I noticed the birds are eating the top berries and the rabbits are starting to clean out the bottom....as well, while I was picking I have noticed the dog inside the bushes...she was eating some too....Guess there are enough to go around....

Out to put some light weight fabric over some tomatoes that are sun scalding and trim up the veggies...pick some produce and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Jim is out in the wheat field singing his favorite song....
"I feel so fine,
On my combine."
It's going good.

 

[grapeman]

I bet you are happy to see some grapes changing. The young vines do seem to ripen clusters faster than older vines, don't they. They probably have a larger leaf surface to grape cluster ratio than fully grown vines. I need to get some top netting on a few reds that aren't pruned VSP. Those have the nets on the sides already, but I am leaving the larger vines uncovered yet so I can thin leaves again and top them off again before covering. I have a half dozen seedless and a half dozen reds that I just plain need to cover. The rest will wait.


I have heard about Jim way out here. By all reports "He is out-standing in his field" or at least riding the combine! I've even had a few folks use that old line on me a time or two.

 

[AlFulchino]

"The garden centers sell a Purple Leaved Sandcherry, I have one, it's a nice purple leaved shrub, but mine has never produced any berries."


its strictly an ornamental type...i have one as well...it is one of the most pleasantly fragrant shrubs around.....no fruit to eat is expected ever from this....i wait all year just to smell it...and you get about three weeks of flowers...real small, but enough to take note

 

[NorthernWinos]

My purple leaf sandcherries bloom with some small yellow flowers...never noticed any fragrance.

Hope we get some rain....looking at those grape photos it looks like some have a little too much baking soda on them...hope they don't burn....maybe it will act like sunscreen and protect them from the intense sun and strong winds we are having.

I have a huge flock of Orioles that have been hanging around the liquid feeders...I caught them out in the sweet corn tonight...so thats what's been tattering the tips of the ears....

Always something taking the fun out of gardening.