Grapes!

New Grape vine supports

 Last year I planted 10 grapevines on the west side of the property. Five were Concord grapes and five were Thompson seedless. I didn't worry about staking them the first year. I just wanted them to get a good root structure and become established. Four Concord and three Thompson made it through the winter.

Grapes seem to like it

Last fall Dave was kind enough to set the T-posts that will support the vines. This spring Joe got the wire and strung it. It was our first fence-stretching experience. I was impressed with my son's creativity. We didn't have the proper tool to pull the wire taut, but he improvised. He took a cable clamp, a loop of wire and a tie-down strap and used them. He clamped the loop of wire to the wire that needed stretched, securing it with the cable clamp. Then he wrapped the tie down strap around the outside fence post to make a come along. One hook went into the loop on the wire. Viola! Wire stretched.

He had some slick brass clamps that caught the loose end of the wire after it wrapped around the fence post and squeezed down on them to hold the wire in place. My grapevine supports look totally professional! Yea, Joe!

The final touch was to put a guy wire on either end of the row to counterbalance the weight of the plants as they get bigger. My contribution was to cut a pool noodle in half (one for each side) and slice it down the middle so it would mark the guy wire. We sure don't need someone cutting through the yard at night to trip on one of them.

Now -- grow grapes! Grow.