New grape trellis

July 3, 2017

One of my projects for 2017 was to replace the grape and kiwi trellis. We put in the new round kiwi trellis in March but I didn't write about it until April, when we pulled out the grape trellis. It took a few more weeks before we got the posts and wires installed. We re-used the old posts and amazingly still had leftover wire sitting around in the garage from the original trellis, so it was just a matter of digging the post holes and putting it together.

Late January, grapes needed pruning

April 28, ready for new trellis

April 29 - looking south

April 29 - looking north

I'm finding it a lot easier to keep the grapevines pruned back now that I can easily walk along both sides - but they are pretty wild still, they grow so fast. This is only two months of growth and I've already been pruning off the longer vines!

July 3 - looking south

July 3 - looking north

I have cardboard under the vines to kill off the weeds, and looking for a good groundcover to plant. Any ideas? I am testing native wild ginger, asarum caudatum, but not sure if there is enough moisture for it. The area gets a lot of light in the winter but of course is hidden under the grape vines in the summer.

The kiwi are growing nicely too, although never as vigorous as the grape.

Kiwi, July 3

Grape and kiwi trellis

New kiwi trellis

I've been tardy in writing about my third big project for the year. We had put in a large trellis across a flat area toward the bottom of our hill about 12 years ago. The north section was intended to support two grapevines and a row of raspberries. The smaller south section was for three hardy kiwi. The plants all did great - in fact, too great. The grapes eventually shaded out the raspberries and I rplanted new raspberries further down the slope last year. It's time to revise and replace the whole trellis.

Looking south - old grape trellis in January

Looking north - kiwi end of the old trellis in January

For the hardy kiwi, I looked at a lot of trellis and arch options and decided on a circular moon gate trellis. I like the shape and thought it would provide a nice entryway to a path down the hillside. We installed it last month and just got the kiwi vines tied on. The kiwi that is furthest away is the male and grows more aggressively. I might need to add a connecting trellis to keep it under control - or prune it heavily each winter. All three of the kiwi were very slow to get established but now seem to produce more fruit if I cut them back.

New kiwi trellis

The grapes are fairly simple, we just need to move the posts and wires a few feet further west; they're east of the plants now because they were centered between the grapes and raspberries. That should pull the grape vines to the west and keep them from growing over the sunny hillside that is just below (east). The cross bars aren't needed anymore, it'll just be straight posts.

We've got the old trellis taken down but haven't put up the new posts yet. Mostly I'm just procrastinating on getting out the post hole digger because I remember what a pain the holes for original posts were to dig. I'm amused that the grapes are standing on their own with no support right now, after I cut them all the way back this winter. I did the same last winter and see above for how wild the vines grew in one year.

Looking north

I also need to cover the area under and around the grapes to kill off the weeds and then find groundcover plants. I have a few native wild ginger planted by the larger grape now, testing to see how that will do. This hillside gets full sun with no water (drip line for the fruit), but the grapes create a huge shady area in the summer.

Looking south - grapes pruned, trellis in progress

The new raspberries that I planted down the hill last spring are taking over already!

New row of raspberries, planted last year

Focus for 2017

Everybody needs a cute squirrel picture

Happy blog anniversary! I wasn't sure that I'd even want to keep posting for a year, but I find that it helps me focus, keep track of what I'm doing, and remember what each season looks like in my garden. That was the point, so I'm happy that it's working for me - I hope my readers are getting some enjoyment too!

I looked back on my ground rules for 2016 and they still seem very relevant. I need to not start too many big projects, think about a full community of plants for each area, observe what is already growing, and use native plants where it makes sense. Now I have confirmed that mostly what is already growing is grass and invasives that I don't want, but I'm leaving that in because I think observing is really important. Like stop and smell the roses, but in this case, it's more stop and see where the blackberry is growing, then think about what to plant instead.

I'm again setting a few large garden project for this year.

Re-do south front yard
Planting yucca along the strip south of the driveway probably sounded like a good idea to someone who didn't realize that yucca isn't really removable. I've considered trying to dig it out, but don't think it's worth the effort. There is also a small pine tree in this area, a struggling rhododendron, and a few roses in front along the sidewalk. The rest is grass and weeds. I plan to at least trim the yucca, cover the grass and weeds with mulch and then plant perennials and perhaps a few more bushes.

South front yard withovergrown yucca

Remove small retaining wall bed and plant shade tree
This is a short retaining wall that was originally built to set a garden space into the hillside next to the southeast side of the house. The wall was built with railroad ties, which are now rotting. We have two other larger retaining walls with the same issue, but this one is small enough that we can tackle it ourselves. We plan to remove the railroad ties and fill in the slope to it's more natural shape - I say "we" because my husband will definitely be helping with this one! Then, plant a shade tree, probably some variety of maple.

Short retaining wall in the back

Replace grape and kiwi trellis
We put in a large trellis across a flat area toward the bottom of our hill about 12 years ago. The north section was intended to support two grapevines and a row of raspberries. The smaller south section was for three hardy kiwi. After a few years, the plants all did great - in fact, too great. The grapes shaded out the raspberries and I finally re-planted raspberries further down the slope last year. The trellis now needs to be moved and partially replaced, which will involve the dreaded fence hole digger.

The grape side of the trellis, hardy kiwi on the far end

Maintenance!
All of last year's projects are going to need careful attention in the spring, so I can't be too focused on new projects. I need to see what didn't survive the winter and make sure my plants can compete against the inevitable weeds. The meadow and back corner are going to need particular attention, I expect that it will be difficult to keep weeds and grass out. And I'll be fighting bits of knotweed for years.