Showing posts with label grapes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grapes. Show all posts

Monday, May 22, 2017

Late blooming fruits, and developing fruits. 5.22.17

Persimmon Nikita's Gift, flower buds.  5.21.17
 The late blooming fruits are not affected by early spring rains, which gives them a better chance compared to Asian pears, plums, peaches, and cherries.  The persimmons have lots of nice flower buds.  Some of those, and some leaves, have hail damage, but I think most should pull through.  Some fruit trees, maybe most, don't bear the first year they bloom.  Yates American Persimmon has lots of little flower buds, for the first time.  So we'll see about that one. 

Grapes are an exception, usually bear grapes if they bloom, even the first year.  This is the first year they have a lot of flowers at the Battleground place.   Some are 2, 3, or 4 years from planting or cuttings.
Persimmon flower buds, Saijo.  5.22.17
Persimmon flower buds, Coffee Cake.  5.22.17

"Illinois Everbearing" Mulberry flowers.  5.22.17
 Mulberry tree is covered with flowers.  Looks very promising.



Early figs forming on "Lattarula".  5.22.17
Grape "Buffalo" flower buds.  5.22.17

Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Grapes are ripe. 8.4.15

Table Grapes, Venus, Price, Interlaken.  8.4.15
These are Venus and Price (both blue), and Interlaken (green).  I don't know which I like better, Price or Interlaken.  Venus is not bad either.

This is a pretty good year for these.  Racoons have been getting into them every night, which wakes up the dogs, which wakes me up.  Not crazy about that.

Good eating.  The grapes at the Battleground place are not ready for bearing yet.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Transplanting Fruit Tree and Vine Starts. 10.18.14

Hollywood Plum after 1 season of growth. 10.18.14
 I replanted some of the fruit trees and a grape vine that I started in the raised beds. 

The Hollywood Plum was from cutting late winter this year, so one season of growth.  Pretty good.   Some of the others were eaten by deer.  I know they need protection but someone else left the gate open  :-).

This was one of the better cuttings.   It did not need any pruning.  I planted it in the location of the dead Satsuma plum.  That might not be wise, but my tree autopsy suggested the problem was, the tree was root bound in its original container, and I had failed to correct that. 

It's useless planting a little plum tree without protection, so I protected it.

The peach seedlings were volunteers.  I think they are from one of the genetic dwarf trees.  They have short internodes, so I think that is correct.  I dug them out, bare-rooted them - easy - and replanted in potting soil in containers.  Rationale - leaf curl disease is carried by rain during the winter.  If I keep them in the garage, I may be able to avoid that frustrating problem.    Depending on how they grow, I could either see what the peaches are like, or use them as a rootstock and graft scion from the other genetic dwarf peaches.  The plan - keep them out of the rain until dormant, then place them in a shed along with containerized fig trees, for the winter.  That may also have the advantage of delayed bloom.

Roots of Hollywood Plum, one season after starting cutting.  10.18.14

Transplanted Hollywood Plum.  10.18.14

Protected from rabbits, voles, deer.  10.18.14
 The grape was from cutting of Price grape, about 2 years old now.  The roots grew down through the screening underlying the raised bed, so I was unable to salvage most of the roots.  I think it will still be OK.  I pruned off the bottom node, which I had badly damaged in digging it out.   Now it's planted in the row with the other grapevines.  I like that I grew my own from a cutting, and Price is one of my favorites.
Peach seedlings and Price Grape Cutting.  10.18.14
Replanted peaches.  10.18.14

Pruned grape cutting.  10.18.14

Replanted grape.  10.18.14

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Grapevines. 4.29.14

Himrod Grape

Lynden Blue Grape
The grape vines are in their second spring, just over a year post planting at the Battleground place.  They all survived the hard freeze.  They are all in deer/rabbit cages.

One of these days I'll need to extend the deer protection so they can be grown along the support lines.  This year I expect at least a couple of the varieties to do that.  The others will grow up to the top of their respective poles.

I gave them some home-made nitrogen boost last week.  According to the grape book, they won't bear fruit if there is too much nitrogen.  I expect that will be depleted in a year or two, so not an issue.

The fastest growing vine was Buffalo grape, not pictured.  It appears to have a couple of embryonic flower clusters.

Sunday, October 06, 2013

The start of fall color. Sourwood and Buffalo Grape.

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum)
 The first of fall color at the Battleground place.  Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum).  This may be partly the effect of being a new planting.  But sourwood trees are known for red fall color.   It's the reddest tree so far.  Probably the reddest of my fall trees.

Others here that that may have good fall color - the ginkgo trees (brilliant yellow) Blueberry plants (red), and persimmons (expecting red or yellow).  I don't know about the others.
Buffalo Grape

Buffalo Grape
This is the only grape vine that I've seen with such brilliant color.  This is "Buffalo", a blue Concord-like seeded grape.  It grew faster than any of my new varieties.  I think I bought this one at Fred Meyer this Spring.  I doubt there will be grapes next year, but it's now big enough, next Spring/Summer I can train the cordons for grapes the following year.

The newest leaves are not colorful.  At least not yet.  I'm hoping the colorful leaves will be typical next fall, and not the green leaves.

Still in a deer and rabbit cage.  More screening  to install this fall ' winter.

Thursday, July 04, 2013

Moving a mature grape vine. At least 6 months later.

Tiny buds
I think it was December when I moved this grapevine.   This is a green grape, seeded, bought at Vancouver Farmer's Market.  I don't know the variety. It was 11 years old.  It had grown up into a tree, maybe 20 feet tall. 

I dug it up and moved it to the Battleground place.  Pruned severely because of root loss.  No growth this spring.  Assumed it was dead.  The only reason I didn't cut it off or dig it up was lack of ambition.

Now the trunk has 2 growing buds.  Tiny.  Interesting.  It might survive after all.   If it does, then every plant, shrub, tree that I moved here, survived.

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Orchard. Progress Report.

Blackberries

Feijoa / Pineapple guava
 I may need to stretch how I define "orchard".   Since the feral Himalayan blackberries are adjacent, they are included.  At some point they need to be tamed but not yet. They will be a major source of fruit this year.  They are also part of the apiary as a major source of nectar and pollen.   Not many bees on this bramble hedge.  Behind the beehive, there is another bramble hedge where the honeeybees are more active.
Grape Himrod

Grape Buffalo
 Feijoa, also called Pineapple Guava.  Apparently neither name is accurate.  This was from Tsugawa nursery last week.  Nice sized shrub.  No variety name.  That might be a mistake.  Some varieties need a pollenizer, others don't.
Cherry Montmorency

Himrod and Buffalo Grapes survived the late frost and are now growing nicely.  Probably won't be up to the top of the posts this year, but roots should be established.    These were bare root from Fred Meyer or Home Depot. There is also one from Raintree Nursery, same size.

The challenge with grapes will be how to keep rabbits and deer from eating the plants.  Currently they are in cages.

Montmorency and Surefire Cherries.  Both ripening.  Small amounts but it is nice to get some  fruit from our own place, so soon.  The Montmorency was cheating a bit - I bought it this year in bloom at Lowes.  The Montmorency was moved last summer from the Vancouver place, so survived fine and overwintered fine.

Seijo and Nikita's Gift Persimmons.  According to the Raintree catalog, these may not come out of dormancy until late summer or fall, so I feel fortunate to have some growth now.  They look fairly delicate but might be tougher than they look.  Lemon balm is planted in many of the tree circles, including by the persimmons, to reduce risk of animals chewing roots and bark, and attract pollinators.  I may not keep it there if it looks too competitive for the little trees.
Cherry Surefire

Persimmon Seijo


Persimmon Nikita's Gift

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Winter Planting. Grape Vine and Anemones.

I saw this grape variety at the local "Everything Store". Remembering, Buffalo is considered a Concord-like grape that bears in this cool summer area, unlike Concord. The plant looked OK, so I bought it and planted it today. Other plants in the grape / kiwi row have been harassed by moles, so I planted in a chicken wire basket. WA State extension lists these grapes as potential table grapes for this area:

Buffalo – midseason Concord type, blue
Canadice – early pinkish red (I have Canadice, the grapes are small and I'm not crazy about the taste) Interlaken Seedless – early white, vigorous (I have Interlaken, I like this one)
Jupiter – early, blue, large berries
Lynden Blue – very early blue, seeded
Mars – medium early, blue
Neptune – medium early, white
Reliance – early, red, table and juice
Saturn – medium early, red
Van Buren – blue Concord type, early
Vanessa – early red
Venus – early red (I think this is wrong. I have Venus, it's good but they are blue. I like Concord-type grapes better)
NY 78.836.06 – selection from Geneva, NY breeding program
I also planted these Anemones. I've read that anemones are both deer and rabbit resistant. After reading that Muscari are deer resistant, I planted quite a few this winter. Rabbits have eaten them all off. I'm guessing it's rabbits. We'll see what they think of Anemones. Soaked for 2 hours per label instructions, and planted in the tree circles.

Saturday, January 05, 2013

Grape pruning.

Each year at New Year's I prune the grapes.  It's early enough that the vines don't bleed, which they do if it's Spring.  This is the "before" for the arbor.
After.  I pruned most back to 3 or 4 nodes of new growth.  Removed some redundant vine.  Took more off Canadice, which I don't like as much flavor-wise.  Left more of Venus and Interlaken, which I like more.
Price grape, over gate.  Before.  Some vines grew more than 10 feet, into the lilac and beyond.
This is my favorite grape, a blue grapey flavored seeded grape.  It does not bear heavily.  I pruned back to 2 or 3 or 4 nodes.  I saved cuttings of this and Interlaken and Venus for the Battleground place.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

A few garden chores / Progress report.

Planted the rest of the ginkgo seeds in the iris raised bed.  That's about 20 seedlings if they grow.  Lots to give away then.  By planting outside now, they get the winter cold for stratification.

Moved one grape vine from the house in Vancouver to the Battleground place.  I don't know the variety; green when ripe, with seeds.  I recall them as excellent flavor, but it was in a shady spot under an old cherry tree, next to a fence.  About 9 years old.  The vine would grow to the top of the tree, 25 feet in a year.  I pulled off lots of leaves for the chickens.  I cut it back to about 4 feet tall, with a couple of recent canes.  I shortened those canes to 3 or 4 nodes.  Digging it up, it wasn't possible to get a big root mass.  I think grape roots are long and rangy, like the vines.  Even so, since it's easy to grow grapes from cuttings, I think the severely pruned-back vine should grow.  It will be a head start over starting a new cutting.  In its new location, I can prune more formally as a 4-arm Kniffen, which is sort of like espalier for grapes.  Much easier to take care of that way.

The soil is moist down to at least 2 feet now.  That's how deep I dug for the grape vine.

35 of the 40 Inchelium Red garlic plantings have germinated.  So they were just a bit slower than the German Porcelain Garlic.

None of the Safeway shallots has germinated.  100% (only 10 plants) of the Holland Shallots have germinated.  So there must be germination inhibitor on the Safeway shallots.  I planted a row of ginkgo seeds in the safeway shallot row, so as not to waste the space.

Very few leaves remaining on the trees.  Buds look fat and happy.  No freeze yet.

To do list for moving trees and shrubs:

2 hazelnut trees.  These are about 2-inch diameter trunks, about 8 feet tall.  Squirrels have taken every nut - not leaving even one for me.  Damn squirrels.  The top and roots will need a lot of pruning - too much for me to dig fully intact.

Brunswick fig.  Similar size to the Hazel nut trees.  Not very productive.  It's time to either move it or cut it down.  Maybe it will produce better in a more open setting.  Sever top and root pruning will be needed to get it out of the current location.

A large camelia.  2 smalll trees, one a Japanese maple and one a weeping birch.

I planted a dozen lily bulbs in the location where I dug out one of the cherry trees last month.  Late, but they should do OK.



Saturday, October 20, 2012

Home Orchard Society

Went to the meeting today. It was a great experience. I felt like I was among kindred spirits. Lots of fruit to view and taste.
Zillions of Apple varieties. All so much better than grocery apples.
These are the biggest. I don't need apples this big. They are fun to look at.
Grapes. Home grown grapes are fit for kings. People don't know what they are missing. Tasting many, I'm still convinced that grapes with seeds are superior to seedless grapes. Those tart tasteless things that pass for grapes in the grocery store should have a different name. They are not even close.
Chinese Haw / Shan zha. I didn't get a change to taste them. First time I've seen one. Second time might be on my own tree. Two years? Three?
Medlars/ I didn't get to taste these either. Another time. Later, other attendees told me they taste like spiced apple sauce.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Grape time!

Price grapes. My favorite. These have seeds. I don't mind seeds, and have read that grape seed is good for you. Regardless, the flavor is excellent, "grapey", juicy, sweet. Not a big crop this year, but all I need is a few bowls of grapes to make me happy. Next is Venus, then Interlaken, the Canadice. I think.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

January Gardening

No photos today. Pruned grapes. I usually do that on New Year's day. This is a little later, but not bad. There were more dead canes than I expected, and some fungal infections on a few dead sticks. I feel a bit concerned, but for the most part the canes had green fresh wood when cut. I trimmed new canes back to about nodes in most cases.

Last year was a bad grape year. There was a lot of mold - maybe they are in trouble. We'll see. With the thorough pruning, and with a few sprays of neem oil, maybe this year will be better.

These vines are about 10 years old. Technically, they should live decades. The damp NW climate may change that.

I also did some minor pruning of a couple of fig trees. Mostly to keep the centers open for sun and breeze. I cut back Lattarula's highest branches, but left the shorter ones in hopes of brebas.

Monday, July 04, 2011

Grape progress report.

I wondered if I almost killed them during the pruning this year, because I removed so much growth. Then there was a hard freeze.  Not the case. Now as lush as ever. The grape clusters have barely started to form, but there may be over a hundred clusters.  The arbor shades the bedroom so well I think the temperature is 10 degrees cooler. I did not measure that effect however. One issue is that the branches grew so fast, some broke off at their origin. I've been pruning a few back. The chickens love eating grape leaves, denuding branches within minutes on throwing them into the chicken yard.

Some vines have grown more than 6 feet already, and they are not done yet.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Backyard Orchard Progress Report

Here is a bit of a backyard orchard progress report. Backyard orchard also includes front yard. It also includes strawberries, grapes, and raspberries. They are all sweet fruits, so why not. Not sure about tomatoes, which are annual, but they make fruit and some are sweet. Peppers, too. Separate issue I think.

Desert King = King Fig. This vigorous, fast growing tree benefited from the pruning I did last year, to keep it compact. It is on the south side of the house. The # of brebas is amazing. King is reputed to be great in the northwest and to keep its brebas. I will hold it to its reputation. I have about a dozen cuttings in the wine barrel container beds among the peppers and tomatoes. If they grow that will be fun. Lattarula = White Marseilles = Lemon Fig. Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello. Also good Northwest reputation. Seems to have more brebas against the house, than a couple of feet further away. Interesting.
Not so many on Hardy Chicago Fig. Chicago is the first to make main crop for me. So I'm not too worried about it. Not pictured, Petite Negri Fig and Vancouver = Brunswick? Fig. Both of those have a few brebas as well, larger but fewer in number, compared to the other fig trees.
Grapes are almost to the blooming stage. I was worried that they froze. Also that I over-pruned them in Jan. Now they are looking good. So I think they will do well.
Flower clusters starting to show on grape vines.

Strawberries are blooming. These are the June bearing plants that have been there for several years, and I got behind on weeding last year. They are looking pretty good despite that. Lots of flowers. I've been snipping off the flowers from the ever bearing plants, as per the instructions, to give them a chance to establish. I will let them bloom in June or July.
Illinois Everbearing Mulberry. The top branch had some orange fungus so I cut it off last month. That left 2 branches for my backyard-orchard-culture low-pruned tree, which I think is less stable than 3 branches. Still that is perfectionism. Mulberries are reputed to be late to leaf out. Looks like one little spur or early branch has potential mulberries. I would like that.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

New Year's Day Pruning

Today I pruned the grape vines (overhead arbor), and most of the fig trees.

Changes:

Grapes - last year I had more grapes than I could use. A lot went to waste. Plus, the vines were a bit overgrown, and many grapes were undersize. I pruned more heavily, leaving fewer buds. That will reduce # of grapes a little, but I hope means less maintenence requirement and therefore better quality grapes that I enjoy more. Less waste.

There are still 2 more grape vines to prune. Maybe tomorrow or next week. But the New Year's tradition of pruning grapes was kept. Cold day pruning means no bleeding. Waiting for warmer weather means the vines bleed a lot.

Figs = Not much pruning. Removed dead figs that never ripened. Cut taller branches from the centers of the trees, to maintain a "bowl" shape and shorten the trees. Removed badly placed brances. Cut suckers from the bases. Even though I stated "not much pruning", I filled a wheel barrow with the prunings. I haven't pruned Desert King yet - as a 100% breba (early summer crop) variety, I'll just remove the biggest branches, to maintain small size without losing brebas. Brebas form on growth from previous summer, so most pruning should be after the brebas are harvested. Thought about leaving suckers in place, for a bush shape. However, I wrap the tree trunks with a strip of plastic and apply Tanglefoot, to keep ants out of the figs. It works, but takes time and effort. A 3-trunk fig bush means 3-trunks to wrap, so more work. Plus, more difficult to weed around the tree. So I'll keep them as compact small trees instead.

Friday, January 01, 2010

Traditional New Years Day Grape Pruning

Each year, I prune grapevines on New Year's Day. It's a good way to remember to do it. Plus, I don't have to remember "It seemed to work last year, but when did I do it?". Despite aches and pains, I pruned. Carefully.

Observations this year: There are a lot more dead canes and spurs than I've seen before. Must be the record cold in November - down to 12 degrees, several days. Venus appears the most susceptable, but all varieties had some dieback.

For the most part, I kept to the spur method, leaving new stems with 2 buds past the initial growth. Last year there were too many grapes, so I thinned some spurs to 1 to 2 new stems. In addition, I removed some larger branches from Canadice, which I don't like as much, and left a new cane from Venus, which I like better, to fill in. I also left 2 replacement canes on Interlaken, which I like a lot; same for Price - my favorite of all. On Price, I may have left too many spurs, but it started raining. Plus, Price clusters are smaller, so more spurs may be a good idea.

The larger grape arbor, before pruning. Canadice on left, Interlaken on right, and Venus on left, in back.

Grape arbor after pruning. Some of the canes were twice my height, so 12 feet of growth. Without major pruning, they would quickly get out of hand.

Price grape, before pruning.

Price grape, after pruning. I left a couple of canes as well, in case too many spurs died.