Putting Posts In

I haven't been on lately, it has been busy and I was waiting for something relevant to say. I finally got to tasted Marquette wine that I had out at Salem Glen Vineyard and Winery in Rochester, MN last weekend. It was pretty dry, but tasted good. I guess I will have to grow to love it. But by the time I make it for myself, I do not think that will be a problem. I liked about half of the wines they make out there, but most of them were fry, and I guess I prefer a little sweetness right now. That may change over time but it is a start. I did buy a bottle of it to go along with the bottle of Frontinac Gris that I got from Falconer Vineyard in Red Wing, MN. I will save these for some special occasion.

I now have 4 of my end posts put in. One is left to go along with the 4 anchor posts, and 2 in-between posts. I broke down and paid my son and wife $10 a post to help me, this way they will get in before summer's end.

My 3 younger kids helped weed my grapes which was a big help, plus they made a little money doing it. It is amazing what you can accomplish for CASH! So I got 2 small kids hoes so they fit them better and they can call them their own, hopefully it will encourage them to use them.

I have massive growth on Marquette M05-09 and 3 other Marquette's, so much that I tried to get the chicken wire cage off them to put a new, larger one on, and it did not come off. The roots have grown through the lower holes and it is stuck. So if you use chicken wire cages, that really do work well instead of grow tubes, keep them loose and on top of the ground so this does not happen.

My new plants from this year are growing great! I have a picture of M10-10, and the grape cluster from M01-09. I think I will prune some of the sucker shoots off M05-09 to help stimulate top growth of the 2 main stems. It has a good root system from last year so I think this may work. The Frontinac Gris has recovered from its Pyrethrin leaf injury now and looks good. My Concord has one shoot that is growing very fast, but there are hardly any other buds that are popping and doing anything more than 12 inches off the ground. Maybe the buds got winter injury. I might have to lay them down over the winter and see if that helps.

I think I will prune some of the sucker shoots off M05-09 to help stimulate top growth of the 2 main stems. It has a good root system from last year so I think this may work.