Wires are up

It has been really busy lately. I got 5/6 of my wires up this last weekend and trained all my vines onto the wires and off of the strings. I still have 1 post to put in, but it has been raining and I need it to dry out before I can do it. Otherwise, the clay soil will dry up and pull away from the post. But with the 2 upper wires in, I bought myself some time. I planned it so I could just loosen the wires, dig and plant the post, and then just set the to 2 wire onto the top of the crosspiece near the screw eye, and use small gauge wire to connect the wires onto the screw eyes. Then, next spring after I prune, I can take the wire off the tightener and string it through the screw eyes and re-tighten it with a new crimp. I wound extra wire on the tightener so I could do this already.

After training the vines onto the wires, I pruned off all the growing points except the canes I wanted to grow longer. I tried this earlier this year on younger plants and it made a big difference in both leaf size and quality, and enabled the vines to grow longer. I think in a couple weeks it will bounce back and look great! Right now, it looks a little sparce, and not as filled in because I trained the vines to grow onto the wires where there was open space, not just so it would fill in and look full from the deck.

I am training 2 trunks up on each plant, and then splitting each one on the upper wire. Because of our potentially harsh climate in winter, if one dies off, hopefully there will be one left. This will take a little more management on my part, but that is the fun of it! It doesn't seem like work to be out there, just fun. Next year, this should fill in really nice and be even throughout the trellis.

I am finding out that my plan to grow vines on my chain link fence might not be the greatest idea. I have been noticing that if a leaf sticks out through the fence into the "woods" behind my yard, it gets eaten by deer, now that I know what to look for (from a previous post). So if I let them continue to grow on the fence, I think that anything that sticks out will get eaten, even my grapes! This is not acceptable. Therefore, I think I am going to have to install posts in my yard, maybe a couple feet from the fence, and use a 4 cane kniffen system to grow them on. I can get them a little higher by doing this also and make more of a wall of foliage. This should protect my vines and grapes once they develop, and keep the deer away at the same time. Now I just have to make sure that the 2 gates to the yard stay closed.

It is interesting that of all my new vines I bought this spring, how different their growth is from their location in the yard. The Frontinac Gris is kind of a slow grower and less vigorous than the Marquette. But the 2 Marquette I have growing in 5 gallon buckets so I can transplant them next year by the front door, are kind of stagnant. They had a burst of growth early on, then their leaves have turned a little yellow instead of dark green like the other plants. I hope they just stay alive until I can transplant them next spring, then I think they will grow great.

I have a guy at work that is willing to give me all the old cedar deck wood that he ripped off his deck because he is replacing it with new treated wood. I think I will use this to make the arbor out front if it is good enough, so I can get the Marquette growing out there next year. This is a great way to get good wood (cedar) to build it with. I really did not know how I could afford to buy cedar to do this project, but now I do! Praise G-d for His provision!