Goldseal's Micro-vineyard

[goldseal]

When Rich relocated from Welsh Wales to the arctic wastes of Aberdeen, he gave me 8 vines. Well, I think the arrangement was to divide the fruit between us, but I'll worry about that later.

The only problem was that I had nowhere to plant them.

Then I noticed a big hedge in our garden. I say 'noticed' because it had always been there but I didn't realise how much room it was taking up. It wasn't serving any real purpose because there was a 6ft fence behind it and another huge hedge outside the property.

So, it had to go

This is what it looked like a couple of days ago:

[goldseal]

... and this is what it looked like today:

[goldseal]

You will also notice that we are now able to deploy the washing line fully. However, it is FUBAR from a several-year-long fight with the (ex-) hedge, so I think I'll buy Mrs. Goldseal a new one for Christmas

I started with one problem:

1. Where can I plant the vines?


I now have two problems:

1. The newly exposed fence is rotten and the posts appear to be made of Weetabix

2. I thought the chap who removed the hedge was also going to remove the (large and well-established) roots. I don't think he has.

[lockwood1956]

Yikes

thats opened it up a bit eh?

you could nearly get two rows in

[lockwood1956]

The vine roots will go much much much deeper than the hedge roots, so I wouldn't worry too much about that

[lockwood1956]

hmmmm

what lies beyond the fence?

maybe some vines could accidentally plant themselves there too?

[goldseal]

Yikes

thats opened it up a bit eh?

you could nearly get two rows in

I HOPE I can get two rows in - it's about 6m x 1.5m, so maybe I'll have to stagger the rows and plant them slightly closer together than ideal.

Either that or leave a couple of vines out - I have no more hedges to dig up!

[goldseal]

hmmmm

what lies beyond the fence?

More hedge, a path and a road. It did cross my mind that the fence could be moved out a bit and nobody would notice, but of course I'd never do anything like that

[lockwood1956]

Which way does the fence face N-S-E-or W

[lockwood1956]

6 m (19ft 6 inches)

you could get a single row of 5 vines at 4ft spacings

1.5m (4 ft 9")between rows is pushing it a little, depends how the sun would be shining on them, although if you trained them low it would help...6ft is ideal spacing between rows

[goldseal]

The fence is orientated NE -> SW, so it faces SE. It gets the sun from about 10am to late afternoon.

[lockwood1956]

hmmmmm

maybe 5 rows of two.....at right angles to the fence might work better?

if you see what i mean, the cordon arms running at right angles to the fence

[Rich]

3 more monte vines here in Yorkshire too.. 1 may be spoken for though.

Looking good Pete

[goldseal]

hmmmmm

maybe 5 rows of two.....at right angles to the fence might work better?

if you see what i mean, the cordon arms running at right angles to the fence

Don't think that would work - I have 1.5 m to play with, so the 2nd vine would be planted right on the edge of the lawn, and there would be no wire that side.

Is the spacing necessary to give room for the trained shoots, or for the roots?

Here's an idea: 4 rows of 2, planted at 45 degrees to the fence. Maybe even train the front row at a lower level to the rear row, to allow the trained shoots to overlap a bit. Not ideal, I know.

[lockwood1956]

The spacing is to make sure all the trained shoots get sunlight and airflow