In article ,
"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas 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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viticulture

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

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

--
"...the man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere
critic-the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly,
not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done."
Theodore Roosevelt 1891

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/

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

Go to Amazon or your favorite book store and get
the book "From Vines to Wines" by Jeff Cox. You
can probably get a used one very cheap. Even new
it is not expensive. It is about 220 pages not
counting the index.

It is written in VERY easy to understand language
and has one of the best sections of pruning
grapes that I have found anywhere.

Half the book is on growing grapes and the other
half is a very good primer on making wine from
the grapes. HTH

I worked at at commercial vineyard after I retired
and now have a backyard vineyard of 110 vines.
Paul