Gardening

[nagev]

Well our garden has been producing a lot. About a week ago I started seeing lady bugs coming back (I'm not sure if I ever posted some of the pictures of the hordes of ladybugs I had here last year). Now they're back in mass and are all over the garden here. We had some aphids on some of the plants and now their numbers seem to be going down. More and more ladybugs though.

My one regret was putting a cloche on a habanero plant some time ago. At night it was getting down around 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) and I read that it likes 60 to 80 degrees (Fahrenheit), so I thought a cloche at night would help it out a bit (it lost all it's first flowers). Anyways, I forgot it one day and it was up around 90 degrees that day. Sadly it looked like I killed the plant, but it has a lot of new growth. I've been thinking about potting it and bringing it in over winter since I read that habaneros are perennials and not just annuals, but that in my climate people treat them as annuals.

I'm going to make something to help out my kumquat tree this winter (light and maybe something to keep it a bit warmer) so I figure maybe I should do both. We'll see.

[Bowwowmeow]

I'm looking forward to some food gardening next Spring. Haven't done anything here yet. Just waiting for the grapes to ripen.

[nagev]

I have some grapes here. Darn things, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with them though. Last year there was a lot of growth, but we only got 5 grapes. It was sad. This year there has been a lot of growth but no flowers or berries yet.

[Bowwowmeow]

How old are your vines? They don't really get productive for several years. They should have bloomed in spring.

Mine are very old. I don't know what to do with them either, but they produce lots of grapes. I will have to study pruning them and so forth. I need to build a better arbor for the ones outside the windows, but I am waiting til the leaves drop and I can see the vines.

[Bowwowmeow]

Oh and I think you have to be careful what you prune too. You could inadvertently prune off the shoots that make the current season's fruit. I know that's how it is with cane fruits, but I am not as familiar with grapes yet. Cane fruits like blackberries always fruit on second year growth.

[nagev]

Originally Posted by Bowwowmeow

How old are your vines? They don't really get productive for several years. They should have bloomed in spring.

I do not know how old they are. They were here at the house when we purchased it. It has to be older than a few years, since the main stock is about 2 inches in diameter. Last year it budded and grew from that main stock, but it didn't do that this year. I think the main stock died. It has sent out a new shoots from the rootstock and is growing now. I suppose there will be no grapes this year.

Originally Posted by Bowwowmeow

Mine are very old. I don't know what to do with them either, but they produce lots of grapes. I will have to study pruning them and so forth. I need to build a better arbor for the ones outside the windows, but I am waiting til the leaves drop and I can see the vines.

Well, at least you'll have a lot of grapes for awhile. Do you know what kind of grapes they are?

[nagev]

Yeah, I knew that about blackberries, I'm not really familiar with grapes at all. Other than what I buy and eat from the store.

[Bowwowmeow]

No I don't know what variety they are. Just red seeded grapes. Very good ones. It's interesting that the birds don't eat the whole berry, they just pierce them and suck out the juice, leaving the burst berries to dry out on the vine.