Project #1
Grapes? Up here? At 62°
north? 1200' above sea level?
Man, this guy must be out of mind! At least about to tilt. . .
.
For many years, a cousin of mine has been growing grapes. He has his own private vine yard, and he even has made his own vine of his own grapes, ( Just small scale production ). Now he lives in one of this county's best districts of fruit and vegetables production. The spring comes early, the summers are hot. The winters may be cold, but the snow does not stay long. Up here , however, the winters last until April. May be we get some snow even early May. And some years snow comes late October. Would it make any sense to try out grapes here?
Some searches on the web told me that there were some
kinds of grapes that could do the trick. A phone to my cousin gave me the gut to
try. I tried to wind up some friends to join me, and I put a reasonable
order at my cousin. About one week later I had distributed grapes from
sealevel up to 500m above sea level. (1500'). And now the show was on.
To grow grapes you have to be patient. It takes at
least 3 - 4 years before you can taste the first grapes. Until than the grape
vine shall grow big and strong. At late fall we cut the branches back to 3
- 4 buds. Each of these will, if they survive the winter give a new branch
that you can shorten to suitable length.
Grapes will come on second year branches, but the second
year after planting a new grape vine you should pick them off. First the third
year you can be granted to enjoy your own grapes.
All right now. How has it been over here? Oh well. At the
moment we are only 2 left. The rest of us had not the greatest luck in the
grape business. Some had accidents like grassing sheep that fount it
convenient to taste how this new stuff was like, or a hired handy farm worker
with a brush saw trimming grass. and not paying attention what he cleared off.
The rest I think passed off in lack of proper treatment like water, weeding
and fertilizer.
The best brand so far seem to be one called "Rondo" . Here is the first cluster from my grape vine , and YESS,. it was yummy.
Project # 2
What's up now? What's next to come??
All right then.
Something pops up here, but what on earth . . .
To be continued . . . . .
Personal
. . .