Thanks everyone. I hope you will feel free to go to the rest of the website and check it out, and even sign my guestbook. It sends a positive message to my sponsors (RootsWeb and Ancestry.Com) Who knows...we could be related! http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hindorff/ Libby, isn't it interesting to have records that go back so far? I do not have all my information posted on my website. Too much information! I am so behind in updating it right now that I am plum ashamed of the state it is in right now. Waiting on a certain person who lives in this house to fix my computer like was promised three years ago. (Am I patient or what?) It is running now, but I don't have all the tools I need to upload my files and web pages, or edit photos and other images, so here I sit, using his 'puter until MDHM (My Dear House Mate) gets 'round to completely restoring mine. Gird Grape I grew from cutting - pretty blooms in Spring are a promise for grapes in the Fall: GG -The grapes taste like a grape, of course, but different from any other wild grape I've tasted thus far. They are only native to Southern California, although they have been cultivated elsewhere. Grannie made jelly and jam out of them back in the day, but I've always liked them best right off the vines. Tiny, sweet bead-like jewels. They have that wild twang to them. The jam comes out kind of brownish-purple. Not pretty like Welch's, but it tastes really good. Grannie's grapes have always tasted better to me tho', especially when I was a little girl. :) Another view of my Gird Grape: Interesting side story about Grannie's Gird grape vine. Immediately after Grannie died at the age of 102 yrs old in 1998, her grapevine began to wither and die. The last I saw of it, it was not much more than a stump. It used to cover a whole huge arbor that Grampa built as a shade over her washing tubs (and later wringer washing machine), the rinse tubs and her long wooden table he built for her where she folded her line-dried clothes and linens. Southern California is very arid, so the washing/rinsing water was never wasted, but used to irrigate the Gird grape and the citrus orchard, figs, & other trees and Grannie's big veggie garden plot. It was all planted in terraces on the slope of the hill below the house and the wash arbor. The wind blew up the hill and through the arbor and it was cool and pleasant under there. She spent many hours sitting out there in the shade on hot summer days. She often wrote her letters out there. She wrote to dozens of people on a weekly or monthly basis. You risked your life if she caught you picking her grapes without permission, tho', let me tell you! I saw how she got onto my cousins once. I never wanted to provoke the wrath of Grannie, so I always asked...but she didn't always say yes. "Darned kids, anyhow. Always comin' up here wantin' everything we have! You'd eat me and Grampa out of house and home if we'd let ya!" She actually loved that we came up there to see her and Grampa. That was just her way. Annie

Go for it. The tender "table" grapes are probably NOT what you want. I have grown pink, white, and red seedless grapes in zone 4 and they will produce good table grapes, but they need to be dropped on the ground for winter and covered with straw. My grape from Jung's "King of the North" has survived climate conditions near Detroit Lakes and Duluth without winter cover on the arbor. It just grows and grows no matter what the conditions, dry, hot, cold, wet--doesn't seem to matter. I think the King of the North is probably very similar to another variety called "Valiant" or a beta grape, but I have had very good luck with "King of the North". There are probably other good ones out there. In my yard climate, it would take about 3 years to get some good coverage and certainly by the 4th growing season it should cover your structure. (I am thinking one at each side.) I am sure mine would fill in 6 x 12 nicely if I were to prune accordingly. In the past, I pruned it severely to just a skeleton and it would still produce like crazy. This year, I just haven't had time to take care of everything. You should still follow some basic grape pruning rules (nurturing a replacement cane after a few years--make sure the structure is very solid as it will be very heavy and a strong wind/rain will knock it over.) While not the best table grape, it does make very good grape juice. I use a steamer to extract the juice. A word to the wise, however, make sure the filling hose is clamped securely or you will find that your feet will turn purple--one of my "Lucy and Ethel" moments! Also, last year my friend came over and thought it was so cute how I hung those plastic grapes on my grape vine. Ha! She was quite surprised to find out they were real! Here is what they look like today: (Looking up) They will probably ripen the 3rd or 4th week in September, weather permitting. Have fun!

Yep, a pre-midlife crisis project. Something I've wanted to do for 10 years now. My plans? Well, let's just say, I've obsessed....um, er...thought about the design for the last 5! So, yes, my design...LOL

What type of grapes are they? Table vs wine. Seeded vs seedless. Do you know if they are particularly vigorous? How much space do you have for them to grow? I am no expert but in general you want good sun exposure, enough leaf area to ripen the quantity of grapes you want to bear, enough space to avoid crowding and good airflow to prevent fungus/disease. So it depends on your rain/humidity, solar exposure and wind exposure situation is like. If you are growing table grapes of a vigorous variety the Geneva Double Curtain could be very interesting. For the same horizontal space you have 2x the vine length but it will take up more width. It will also bring your vines 6' off the ground and away from the fence which would give more solar exposure and better airflow. But honestly, try whatever you want, if you don't like it cut back to the trunk during winter and start over, you are only 2 years behind. Build the structure this year and get grapes next year. Have fun, other than diseases grapes are super easy. Do some research on bagging grapes with Ziploc and organza bags to help with fungus/insects/birds.