On 8/3/2008 2:44 PM, SteveB wrote:
Today, we went into the garden. A mostly ignored neglected place that we
had high hopes for last spring. We found a few edible things, and thigh
high weeds.

BUT, along the wall were lots and lots of grapes. Some as small as a dime
and smaller with a couple of hundred on a cluster. Then some big honkers
bigger than a quarter, some of them turning purple and very sweet.

These vines were planted probably three to five years ago. They have had no
care in the last two.

I want to get in there just as soon as it cools off, and till out the whole
thing and do it right next year. I have had gardens, but this year,
listened to SWMBO's schemes, and we ended up with a winter's supply of food.
If we were cows. Next year will be different, as she has seen that gardens
require a person to go in at LEAST once a week, and more if you want more
and better stuff. But like most gardeners, they get bit hard, and then it
wears off in a week.

I could use some sites that make understanding pruning grapes simple. Also
watering and fertilizing. I've been reading some of the top sites listed on
Google, but would like some that have pictures, so I can associate what's
being said. I think if I go in this fall and cut back and build proper
trellises that I can have a pretty good crop of grapes this coming year. We
all like grapes, so I might even get some help.

Our peaches are ripening, and that tree had seven boxes of very sweet
peaches last year. And I think we have three almonds. ;-)

Thanks in advance.

Steve


Grapes do quite well with severe pruning. Go to the nearest large
public library and see if they have Sunset's book on pruning, which has
a large section on pruning grapes. It describes two pruning methods --
spur and cane -- one of which is supposedly appropriate for a given
variety of grape.

While grapes do need some moisture, they do not require abundant water.
Also, they do not require abundant nutrients; good topsoil is
sufficient. In some parts of Europe, excellent wine grapes are grown in
soil that is little better than decomposed chalk.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/