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

In bloom this week: Apr. 24, 2016

Roses!

I skipped my in bloom post last week, I just didn't have the energy to put pictures together. It was very hot and bright for the first half of the week, reminded me unpleasantly of last summer. I've planted so many new plants this spring, had to do a lot of watering. Back to rain now, so I was dodging showers to take pictures.

Roses are about to leap into full bloom, about a quarter of our bushes have large buds or blooms already.

A few last spring bulbs: the allium are in full bloom, anemones and bluebells are fading. The bluebells went quickly, they weren't even fully in bloom two weeks ago.

Allium

Bluebell

Anemone

This is cheating because I just planted it, but I've always loved foxglove. I remember seeing these as a kid - and being warned not to touch them. Apparently it's not really a native plant, but is very common in more wild areas.

Foxglove

Borage in my vegetable garden, planted earlier this year because it's supposed to be a good companion plant. I didn't realize it would have such nice flowers.

Borage

I really hope my great camas will spread a lot, I don't know how it took me so long to discover this native plant.

Great camas

The kiwi blooms finally opened all the way, and now starting to fade. The grapes will be next, and then that's all of my fruit.

Hardy kiwi

All except the strawberries, which will bloom on and off all summer.

Strawberries

Next week: maybe an iris?

Iris, unknown variety

In bloom this week: Apr. 13, 2016

Lilacs

Lilacs! We have giant old overgrown bushes next to the front porch. There were barely any blooms the first year, because the previous owners had chopped them flat across to look nice for the sale. We just let them grow wild.

Overgrown lilacs

A couple of very early roses are blooming. These aren't very healthy blooms, but they are a nice hint for coming weeks.

Early roses

The wisteria is also blooming, this is the only time of year that I like the plant. It's boring in the winter and way too much work in the summer. I cut it way back this winter, it seems fine with that and hopefully will help keep it under control this summer.

Wisteria

The anemones that I mentioned last week are open now, I love the blue!

Anemone

Other bulbs continue to bloom, including one lonely allium - I wish I had written down what type it is.

Allium

On the fruit front, strawberries are starting to bloom. How many weeks until ripe berries?

Strawberry

Hardy kiwi are also just starting to bloom, I thought that would happen weeks ago but may finally see full bloom next week.

Hardy kiwi

And my bluebells - a birthday present from my husband last fall - are finally starting to grow blooms. I thought they might not at all this year, since all of the others around our neighborhood are in full bloom now, but the flower stems have popped up almost overnight.

English bluebell

In bloom this week: Mar. 29, 2016

Asian pear

Where did March go?! In like a lion with a storm on the first and out like a lamb, sunshine all week. I need to remember to take pictures earlier in the day, the sun is too bright when I go out in the late afternoon.

The classic spring bulbs are still here, I have more planted this year and different varieties so I'm enjoying a longer bloom time.

Late daffodil

Tulips

Sunny daffodil

Vinca minor, or periwinkle, spreads quickly but so far I'm happy with a few areas where I transplanted it last year.

Periwinkle

All four of my blueberries are blooming, but hard to get pictures of them. I grow a lot of fruit but these are my favorites!

Blueberry

Another blueberry

One lonely strawberry is blooming before all the rest.

Early strawberry

I planted a few kinnikinnick last week, just in time for the flowers.

Kinnikinnick

Indoors, one of my amaryllis plants is finishing blooming, it had three sections and this is the last. The other amaryllis doesn't seem to want to bloom this year, but I don't do anything to force them to bloom.

Amaryllis

Coming soon.... I found pictures of lilac blooms from this week last year, so we are a little behind - but I think still an earlier than usual spring.

Lilac - maybe next week?

The apples and kiwi blossoms are still not quite here either, although I almost like the buds better than the blooms. I'll change my mind next week.

Apple

Hardy kiwi

And one more preview - coming in April!

Early rose