Goldseal's Micro-vineyard

[fatbloke]

Dunno if Petes thought about ithis, what with the space issues etc (same here, as it happens) but about 18 months ago, I put my name down on the council list for an allotment.

They emailed me last week and the F.I.L. is meeting up with the bloke from the local parks department tomorrow to view the available site. Which is quite a surprise as the waiting list was down as 3 years, so only an 18 month wait isn't bad...

It's a 5 minute drive from home, so not far, plus I'm thinking along the lines of using it for easy to grow, but not needing too much continuous tending fruit bushes/plants......

Hell, there even might be enough space for a couple of vines.... I won't know till I've seen the plot.

If others who fancy a go at vines etc did the same, then it's gonna give them a bit more growing space without the hassle of "erindoors" claiming the garden space as "theirs"....

So it's probably worth a thought....

regards

jtfb

[james]

that exactly what I'm doing.

I've got a half plot, mostly under old carpet at the moment. Its 7 m wide by 15m long, running roughly north/ south. Last year, I started collecting vines to clone up, and this winter two 15m rows of trellace are going in, to be populated by the vines next spring/ summer. Spacing at 1.5m, I'm planning on 20 vines (10 red, 10 white, two varieties of each).

A fair chunk of the rest of the plot is going over to soft fruit- 3 bushes each of blackcurrent, redcurrent, gooseberry (two golden, one red) and jostaberry (a blackcurrent x goosberry highbrid). And probably some thornless blackberries, raspberries and / or loganberries (all of which I have kicking around the garden at present...)

The fruit & vines will all be in a fruit cage.

Also lots of rhubarb.

[goldseal]

The allotment idea has been pursued, yes. We were supposed to be going halves with friends and, a year down the line .... we found they'd done absolutely nothing about it.

That needs sorting out, but for now ....

The big root is now out of the ground, and the area is ready for TFB (The Fence Bloke). This is how I did it:

Equipment required:
Garden fork
Garden spade
Pole type chainsaw
Pickaxe
Axe
Tea

Method:
Dig out the soil around the root as much as possible.

Drink tea.

Scientifically work out where to cut the root to weaken it.

Cut the root with the chainsaw. This needs to be done in one operation because the starter cord will detach and make it impossible to start again without dismantling it.

Tighten the chainsaw chain with the engine still running. Carefully

After 10 minutes of cutting, realise that the little chainsaw is barely denting the root

Switch the chainsaw off, and discover that the on/off switch has stopped working. Put thumb over exhaust to asphyxiate it.

Start digging around the root to see what damage you have managed to inflict

Collect the chainsaw's chain, which is now lying 3 ft away, alongside the chain guard. Scratch your head and wonder why the chainsaw has disintegrated.

Take a 90 minute break to:
a) Drink tea
b) Reassemble the starter mechanism
c) Find nuts which actually fit the bolts holding the chainsaw's head together, rather than the 2mm-too-big ones which were fitted by the supplier
d) Reassemble, and cross fingers that it all works
e) Drink tea

After another 10 minutes of random cutting, revert to more traditional Kinetic Energy weapons e.g. the Axe

Employ maximum violence and liberal use of Strong Language.

Finally, drag the root out of the ground and brandish in the air. Try not to look too disappointed when The Other Half utters 'very good dear' and puts her head back in her book.

Finally, tidy all the garden tools (and the large pile of chainsaw repair tools) away, and celebrate with a nice cup of tea.

[james]

chainsaw
axe

[goldseal]

Well, TFB has been and gone. Looking good now.

The posts and kerbstones will be here on Monday, the wire and weed-control fabric is in the shed, and there are only two more roots to dig out.

[lockwood1956]

How are you stringing the wires pete?

I use gripples...they are fantastic..you need a special tool, but they are just fab

http://www.gripple.com/

[lockwood1956]

for sale on ebay...you secure one end by twiating it on and use the gripple at the other end (or gripples both ends) the special tool is the bit that costs the money....

I have one you could borrow short term once i finish stringing the wires at my place


how are you tensioning the posts?

I have some spare ground anchors that are unusable here because there is a layer of hard stuff about 2 ft down...the vine roots go through it ok but ground anchors dont


how are you inserting the posts ( a post knocker is just the job) i dont think concreting them in is as good

(again one avail for short term borrow )

[lockwood1956]

I.m sure I have (at home) a ton of info on trellising etc....I will dig it all out (pardon the pun) for grapefest (or when i get home if you need it earlier)

there should be quite a bit of info in the downloads section i think....in the mid atlantic grape growers manual

[lockwood1956]

Here you go...info on end [posts is good

http://viticulture.hort.iastate.edu/info/pdf/trellisinghowto.pdf

[goldseal]

Ground anchors - blast, I knew there was something I'd forgotten

I may take you up on that on the 12th

I planned on inserting the posts with an FBH (stands for 'Big Hammer'). Using 3 posts per row (2 vines in between eacvh post) with the outer posts sloping outwards a bit.

I was going to tension the wires manually (pulling very hard whilst someone whacks a staple in).

[lockwood1956]

Well...I can tell you....you will lose the will to live, the post knocker is definately the way to go..

the gripples are great because you can re-tension the wires (even without the tool....again we can string some wire while you are up for grapefest, and you will see how easy it is

[goldseal]

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get the vines in the ground ASAP, then fit the posts a week or so later.

I have a device for hammering posts in with a sledgehammer. It's called Uncle Cyril

[NorthernWiner]

I was going to tension the wires manually (pulling very hard whilst someone whacks a staple in).

You don't want to permanently tension the wire, because it stretches out and in a year's time it will be slack.

Bob's got the right idea with the gripples. I like these guys myself (only because they don't require an expensive tool).



But the point is you need some way to periodically adjust the tension. You also want to loosen a bit in the winter and re-tighten in the spring.

[goldseal]

Thanks Steve & Bob, point taken


I now have a couple of days' delay while I wait for the kerbstones to arrive. Until they are in place, i can't level the soil, and until that happens I can't really dig it over because most of it is in a huge pile

The soil is still full of root debris (small fibrous stuff), but the main roots are out. I'm just hoping nobody will say that that debris needs to come out, because that'll take months

[lockwood1956]

With my new site i have used weedproof fabric and then a pebble mulch, looks good and is effective, and reflects heat..

im fairly sure the vines will be fine, they dont want too good a soil anyway