Grapes

I would guess that the number one reason why people start a vegetable garden would be to have access to food that tastes like they remember growing up .  Second to that would be to guarantee that the food has more nutrition and less chemicals than the ones available at the grocery store.  The number one home grown vegetable in America is the tomato .  To quote Andy Rooney "The federal government has sponsored research that has produced a tomato that is perfect in every respect, except that you can't eat it".  Therefore Americans long ago realized that they would have to grow their own slicing tomatoes if they wanted a decent BLT.  I too began gardening so that I could have the same tomatoes that I grew up eating.  That soon expanded to peas and beans and apples and has rounded out with strawberries, corn on the cob and cantaloupes.  Next up are grapes and blackberries.

Vitis Himrod White Seedless Grape

We live in New York state and New York is the third largest producer of grapes in the US.  My grandmother used to go into grape country every autumn and along with Concord and Niagara grapes she would bring back some amber colored seedless grapes that were so sweet.  I am not sure what variety they were or even that they were always the same, but they were a type of grape you will never see in the grocery store and rarely see at farmstands. 

Tickled Pink

 For years I have contemplated where I could grow some grapes.  I need a trellis, and I need to have them protected from all of our destructive and sticky fingered critters.  I finally decided that I should just go ahead and put them in one of my raised beds.  I don't need a whole vineyard, I just need enough space for a couple of vines.  When I started gardening in these raised beds, I shared them with the next door neighbors and for years was perfectly happy growing in six of the twelve beds available.  A couple of years ago I turned one bed over to more permanent biennial herbs and flowers for the pollinators and I haven't missed having the space for annual crops.  

To support grape vines I will need to put up three 4x4s and run cables between them.  Above is the sort of setup that I have been watching Garden Answer grow grapes on for a few years now.  Its nothing fancy, and I can grow two vines in a raised bed.  If, once the vines are established, it turns out the I need or want something more substantial, I can always sink posts at each corner and build an overhead trellis.  But this will be a good start.

I ordered two different kinds of grapes.  The first is the Vitis Himrod White Seedless Grape which is a New York grown variety and should do well in our climate and the second is Tickled Pink, an Arkansas grown red seedless table grape.  Last fall I also got a jump on growing some blackberries, and planted two Triple Crown Thornless Blackberry plants.  I made that decision right after the racoons found the bountiful canes full of berries that I had carefully supported and covered.  The little bugger climbed right up the canes under the cover and ate every last berry.  That couldn't have been comfortable with all of those wicked thorns which just proves the lengths that they will go to steal food.  If I want any berries for myself I will have to have a electric fence to keep the coons (and deer and bears) out and a floating row cover to keep the birds out.

  I have chosen the two west end beds which are the most difficult to water because the water hose just barely reaches to the far end of each bed.  Having a couple of permanent plants in each bed will be the best use of the space because I won't have to be watering dozens of seedling transplants three times a day.  So now all I have to do is wait for winter to be over.  I love looking forward to live plants coming in the mail.  It will mean that spring is finally coming.  It is a balmy 4F here today with a wind chill of -8F.