Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Grape Options

I tried to go get some strawberries from the nursery today to plant by the apple trees but they're all out for the season. So I need to move on to the grapes since they will take a few years before they're really producing anything.

Option 1:
Along the back fence.

My backyard neighbors already started some on one end that I'm sure I will benefit from on my side of the fence. They aren't sure what type it is though. They said it was purple with a seed so I'm thinking it was probably a concord grape.

The only problem along the back fence is that I'm thinking I might want to plant some raspberry bushes along the back maybe.
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Option 2:
On the Pergolas
Here is one of the pergolas. One of the problems with the pergolas is that the posts are about a foot away from the raised planters so the grapes would have to grow over from the planter to reach the posts with the exception of the above pergola that has count them, ONE post close to the grass where it wouldn't have to reach as far to grow from.

Here is the other one showing a little better how the posts are spaced away from the planter boxes. I was a little bummed about this when they got put in, truth be told, but in order to be able to walk in the gate with the required spacing of posts and supports this was the only way to do it.
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A local nursery guy told me grapes don't do well on arbors but I've read of a few varieties that supposedly do well on arbors {like Steubens} so now I don't know what to do.
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Here is an article on Grape Arbors that shows how it can be done, but written for a Texas climate, not a Utah climate.
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So what do I do? Go for the arbors and just have weirdness at the bottom reaching out of the planter boxes to the posts? Ideally the arbors were my top choice but I also wonder about the grapes staining the tables and patio.
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If anyone has ideas/recommendations I would super appreciate it!

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