Surprisingly well, thank you.

It’s surprising to us in that we didn’t really do this right and continue to make classic blunders. We do not spray them consistently with copper (anti-fungal), and would rather not need to spray them at all. I do not know really the best way or the best time to trim them (I experimented with later trimming this year). They are on a nice hill, but the slope is also home to incredibly invasive quack grass (and other nasty weeds). And some vines have been “accidentally” hit with the mower. I think it’s safe to say we’ve been a tad neglectful and borderline abusive.

And yet I expect them to appease me. I want them to pose for these photos and more to come. I want them to produce lots of tight little clusters this year. I do not want then to succumb to a late frost as we had last year – and just barely managed to avoid a few nights ago. I understand my irrationality. I want them to produce with little help from me. I want them to want to live and fend for themselves. Some of them probably can and will… at least for a time. And as a spot is vacated, perhaps an apple tree, tomato plant or blackberry will take it’s place. I think I’d be okay with that.

Our grapes were frosted earlier this Spring. It was a hard frost with plenty of warnings, but we do not really have much means to protect the new growth on the vines. I guess we could have gone out in the middle of the night and tried to spray some of them with the hose (check this out), but how much fun would that have been? I’m guessing it would not have been fun at all. And it seems that kind of effort would have been entirely superfluous as the grapes are making quite the recovery.

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But here is my question. What do I trim out now? Anything? It seems the frost damaged growth has sprouted multiple shoots. Had it not frosted, I don’t think I would have seen this many side shoots. Take a look at the image and note the multiple shoots from the frost damaged growth. What do you think, cut some out? Leave them and see what happens? Will I need to de-cluster since I’ve more than doubled the amount of fruit clusters? These vines are in their third year. Any readers have advice for us and the Internet at large?

I’m leaning toward calling this the result of powdery mildew. It’s hard to tell as the leaves had yet to really open. But with the mower down for a couple weeks and some extremely tall grass in the vineyard, conditions were moist and warm. Likely some kind of fungus, and powdery mildew is one of the more common grape diseases.

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Copper solution is somehow an organic fungicide. Time to start our spray regimen – which for us is not very regimented. Anne tries a lot harder than I do. Perhaps this vine loss will inspire me to join the mold battle. If anyone happens to know definitively what this disease is, I’d be eager to learn.

We could not have asked for a nicer weekend in the middle of March. Not too windy, lots of sun, mild temps all help to make my winter lethargy melt away. I seriously feel like I got some sun today. 

And we were productive too! How can you not be when the weather is finally this beautiful?! And it was just in time for the grapevines. Any longer and they might have started bud swell. About half of our grapes needed to be cut back to year one. They were not tall enough. This year they should easily reach the first wire. Installing the wires is a project for when the ground is completely thawed as I still need 22 line posts and two end posts.

Planted more seeds today too: 2 hot peppers, 2 sweet peppers, brussel sprouts, artichokes, yellow tomato, and some zinnia from last years garden just to see what might sprout. Good times ahead!

The grapevines have arrived! Who’s excited?! We would be if it didn’t mean we need to prep more rows and auger 100 little holes and then plant 100 of these twiggy little plants. Ouch, that’s going to be painful. But it’s a good kind of pain — like popping a zit or riding a bike up a mountain. It will be nasty (the zit) and fulfilling (the bike ride). The trick is to keep your mind’s eye on the prize. These little twiggy vines don’t look like much now, but give them time and a little thing called love and we should see at least a couple of leaves.

The variety is a red French-American hybrid, Marechal Foch. They come from Penoach Nursery/Vineyard/Winery in Adel, Iowa.