I have a question for those of you who grow grapes. I am having a patio built in my backyard. We will be having a pergola built on the patio. The patio will be pavers. I would like to grow Concord grapes up onto the pergola. I have knowledge of growing and pruning grapes(I worked on the Mosel River in Germany doing vineyard work in 2006-07). My question is, with the pergola being positioned in the center of my patio, how can I create areas for the vine to be planted without taking away for the look of the patio itself. I live in zone 4b, northern NY. Any advice or examples or your own pergolas would be appreciated. Thanks
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I think you have two choices. The least impact would be planting at a side edge of the pavers and let the vine climb from one side across the top. Could be an in-ground or a raised bed.
Second would be removing pavers in the middle somewhere and having a nice raised paver or wood structure to plant. Of course you would need a vertical support to train and hold the tendrils to the height you want it to spread.
A photo of the area would be helpful.
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Well, I keep thinking about this thread. I do not have a highly architectural pergola, just a grape arbor made of cedar and wire. However, I would be very, very careful with my choices if I was planning to grow grapes as you are.
I’m mostly growing gourds on it now. In the future muscadines.
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Thanks for the response. I used to live and work in the vineyards on the Mosel in Germany. I really liked how people had grape vines growing on their homes, on arches over streets, and on pergolas. Most of those grapes were Riesling, so no concern for staining. I know that the sugar in grapes can attract yellow jackets etc. There are a few restaurants that have Concord grapes growing on them and the wasps don’t appear to be a problem.
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Concord is a really nice grape for juice and jelly/jam. I lost the vine that was growing on an arbor last winter. Died to the ground, now it has sprouted back. May keep it. Don’t know if the early frost/freeze in late October or a -3F degrees night just before Christmas was the culprit but I was surprised. The vine may have been weakened by disease. Average low here (zone 7b) for a winter is about 8F degrees.
If I lived in a northern latitude, I would consider taking vines off of whatever support they were on and lowering them to the ground and covering with straw. In your experience have you seen that done?