Willamette Hops harvest.....in my Chicago backyard!!!

Two Wednesdays ago I got locked out of my apartment, after returning from a volunteering stint that I do every week, because the maintenance guys were painting the front steps.  Well, I never have the back door key with me, that is the internal back porch deadbolt key.  So I decided to harvest hops since the steps were still wet from being painted.  The above-provided photos are the product of what resulted.  I harvested these Willamette Hops on Wednesday Oct 6, 2010.  Just seeing how much I picked off the vines this year made me so utterly proud.  It has been only 3 years of growing these things and they just take off without much care at all.  I still don't grow them properly, as in - vertically, which I think is the proper manner in which to grow them - but I will be calibrating my methods for next year to get closer to the ideal.  The plans on how to do this vertical gardening are still only in the sketch phase.  Actually, it is more along the lines of sketch and throw pasta at the wall, all the while taking a sip from a nice glass of wine to celebrate another great year in gardening.

Super late on posting anything these days to this southeastern Logan Square blogulation. I am in the midst of Day Eight for the fermentation of my first-ever wine (a red Spanish Tempranillo). As well, classes and trying to re-adjust to taking coursework, coupled with trying to find supplemental income have all successfully consumed my brainpower, or my 'Frontal Cortex' as Andrew Sullivan is so fond of saying.

Gary Vaynerchuk has reviewed Tempranillo a time or two, be sure to check his show out every week if you wish to learn more about his take on these matters. As always, more to come.......Thank you for reading!!!!

46 Degrees Fahrenheit for the low temperature last night

Growth cannot be sustained any longer for this particular growing season of 2010. Today is Sept 28 2010 Tuesday. It's been an amazing year. There is a ton to celebrate and there is a ton to look forward to as things proceed into the future, the unknown.

When the temps dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, growth ceases for the grape vines. As a result, I think it might be nice to provide some comparisons, at the end of the growing season, of two of the varietals that I am growing at the apartment in Chicago. My Mars Seedless won't be featured in this bulletin, partly because it is recovering from the roots being hammered by rat baits placed about by the landlord, which I have no protest for or against. But let's begin with the photographic comparisons, the emphasis will be on the leaves of the two varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Cabernet Sauvignon starts it off.

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Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine leaves. (All photos taken on Tues Sept 28 2010)

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Syrah grape vine leaves

Syrah grape leaf Tuesday Sept 28 2010

Lead shoot on Syrah grape vine Tues Sept 28 2010

Another view of a Syrah grape leaf Tues Sept 28 2010

The temperature is currently at 69 degrees Fahrenheit in the city of Chicago. The vines and the rest of the fauna are experiencing at least a 23 degree discrepancy between mid-day temps and late-night/early morning temperatures. Actually, the vine by the red stairs seems to be behind the vine along the side of the apartment with respect to how advanced the periderm is developed as the march toward winter carries on. I am very interested in seeing what the impact of my decision to not crop the vine at 5ft tall will be. As well, I am very interested in learning about the prospect of winter injury to the vines and to see if I can possibly get some viable cuttings from these vines. They won't be this long in length by late Marc 2011. I fully intend to prune these back so that I can begin to develop canes that will provide for the cruciform component most readily seen in anyone else's grape vines.

One final note for today. I feel even more certain that August 15 in Chicago, Illinois is probably the best marker to use as the final time to get any young vines in the ground and expect them to be fully acclimated to the soil before the autumn chill arrives.

Overall, I am learning a tremendous amount, and feeling very proud about progress with all of the vines planted in Chicago, Grayslake, southern Indiana, St. Louis, MO and Glen Ellyn, Illinois, with many, many thanks to friends and family, roommates, and building-mates. More to come....Thanks for reading.

Two weeks late on this posting

Lots of whirlwind activity going on. I intended to post these videos for the blog way back in late August 2010, just never got around to it. I DID however prepare them back then by placing them on the You Tube page for the blog. But I'll cut out that additional step and put them in this posting for the readers.

The story goes that I now believe July and August really took the vines in Chicago, at my apartment, to another level. The heat came, surely nothing like the heat of the Missouri or anywhere among the southern states, but still these vines thrived very nicely in the warm breath of Chicago's upper-midwest summer.





Reviewing these videos I have to laugh because there has been so much more growth than these videos convey. The growth has been extraordinary, revealing lots of vigor. I also hope it reflects lots of TLC. Regardless, the aim is just to get through the growing season and see what needs to be pruned in the first week of March of 2011.

Temperatures are cooling in Chicago, Illinois. More to come...be well!

Cabernet Sauvignon - Chicago

A few updates from the patch of garden/flower beds in southeast Logan Square. The Cabernet Sauvignon vines that were transplanted from pots to soil earlier in the summer went through a period of shock, in other words they simply just held. Such behaviour didn't surprise me as the plants were moved into a new living environment. At times more than a few leaves seemed to reveal plants that were struggling. These pieces of evidence began to worry as this year I have not had the best track record with bringing cuttings through the critical first 10-12 weeks after Bud Break.   The following photographs of the vines were taken on Friday July 9 2010

As a comparison, I took a few photographs (featured below) of the vines this morning Wednesday August 25, 2010. I am pleased to see the results of 7 weeks of heat, water, and sun affecting, for the better, these young Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings that were lopped off of my parents' Cabernet Sauvignon vine in St. Louis, Missouri late one Friday Feb 26 2010 during late-winter pruning.

The final vine that I photographed is one that I simply wanted to get in the ground before Sept 1, 2010. I must've planted it on Wednesday Aug 18, 2010. It is another cutting from my parents' vine in St. Louis, MO. I just wanted to experiment by getting it in the ground earlier than I put the Syrah vines in the ground last year, which I am almost certain I did after Sept 1, 2009 (and by that measure I mean it may well have been Sept 10th or 15th, I wasn't as good about documenting back then). What I hope to discover next spring is that this 3rd cutting will grow and have vigor. When such activity occurs I will then have a better sense of what the parameters are for planting late in the summer in Chicago, IL. It is entirely possible that last year's Syrah cuttings just didn't have adequate time to get situated before the cool air came around. Even this morning at 6AM the air was quite cool in Chicago when I was outside. All of these details are important to consider.

Harvest photos - Sleepy Creek Vineyards, part deux

Have a few more great photos from my time of harvesting Frontenac grapes at Sleepy Creek Vineyards two weekends ago. More to come, actually, I just need to make the time to get the photos up.

the near-bungee cord used to fasten the vine to the aluminum wire was new to me.

the grapes were really shining in that morning Sunday light.

Dude watching over the harvesters amongst the Frontenac grave vines.

Dude

a wider scope of a Frontenac grape vine

Enjoy!

Harvesting Frontenac Grapes in Central Illinois

The following photographs depict what I was involved in yesterday Sunday August 15, 2010. I had a wonderful time harvesting grapes (Frontenac grapes, no less) and observing the so-called 'Crush' and 'Pressing' steps in the whole process toward creating wine. The wines that were pressed yesterday probably won't be bottled until January 2011 the owner informed.

updates from the Glen Ellyn, IL vines

The following photographs were taken 7 days ago (Sunday Aug 8, 2010). Very good news. It appears that the vines will be ready for the winters of DuPage County. Looking forward to more growth in the coming weeks and to seeing the current vines turn to wood from the harsh winter coming up.

Frontenac grape vine located front-left in the yard. (1 of 2 photos same vine).  Glen Ellyn, IL.

Frontenac grape vine located front-left in the yard.  Glen Ellyn, IL (2 of 2 photos, same vine)

Frontenac grape vine. (2 of 2 photos) Located back-left in the yard.  Glen Ellyn, IL.

Frontenac grape vine Glen Ellyn, Illinois.  Situated back-left in the yard (1 of 2)

La Crescent grape vine (1 of 2 photos same vine - front-right in the yard)

La Crescent grape vine in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.  This vine apparently has taken the longest to respond to the soils and get situated for growth and development.

La Crescent grape vine.  Location back-right in the yard (1 of 2 shots for same vine).

La Crescent vine, located back-right in the yard.

View of the four vines all together as planted on location in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.  Planted back in May 2010.  They seem to be doing very well.  The immediate neighbor to the north is quite intrigued and always asks after them.

Dachshund dog with the grape vines.  Frontenac on the left, La Crescent on the right.  Dog in the middle (name for canine:  'AC'.  Sweet dog with an overbite that makes it appear to be smiling all the day long).

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I am supposed to be sleeping at this precise moment, but instead I am finishing a blog posting because I can't sleep. I will be assisting with a grape harvest in the morning, in a few hours, at a vineyard in central Illinois. I'll keep you all posted on how things unfold. I was supposed to help out on Saturday morning, but I couldn't wake up. I worked 16 hours and 45 minutes on Friday and needed some sleep. Foolish of me to think I could drive 3 hours and 20 minutes after such a work shift. Can't win 'em all. Gettin' back on the horse soon, though.

Wednesday to Wednesday growth measurments with photography - Syrah vines

A beautiful Syrah grape vine leaf.  Chicago Illinois Wed Aug 4 2010. That's a vine growing in Southeast Logan Square, my readers!!!!  Dig it!

Note the green string on the left of the horizontal fence post.   It was placed on the fence July 28, 2010 Wed to begin measurements.   Measurements on Wed Aug 4 2010 (date of photo) conveyed growth of 8 inches, perhaps 9 in one week's time since the 28th of July.

Front porch Syrah grape vine. Wed Aug 4 2010

Front porch Syrah grape vine, picture # 2.  Wed Aug 4 2010.  This is the vine that is doing the best of the two being measured.  Very hardy and vigorous growth for an urban setting.  Curious where things will be come Sept 15, 2010 despite my estimation that the better part of the growing season concludes around Sept 1 for the Chicagoland area.

We'll be back with more updates. Just pulling it all together.


Happy growing!

A very brief study of the vines

As part of this current state of transition in my life, I resigned from one job (back in late June 2010) and replaced it with a job that takes me up north for 5 days straight every week.   When I say north, I don't mean that I work near the Hudson Bay in Canada, but I actually get away from my apartment for 5 days and then return to my apartment after my last shift (not returning every night to the apt makes sense as the gas costs get pricey).  Because of doing so, I have noticed alot of growth on my 2-year old Syrah grape vines every time I come back from working a 4 or 5-day stretch. 

This weekend, before I left for work on Thursday, I decided to set up a few markers so that I can measure how much growth has occurred this week on each vine - actually only in the past 4 days to be exact.  I have a few videos that I took to document before leaving on Wednesday that I'll share now in this post.  Enjoy!



The vine below gets mostly southern facing sun. My aunt commented about how this plant is so darned close to concrete. I know, this whole arrangement is beyond logic. It is all madness, we just have to be creative with the limit on space in the city of Chicago when it comes to gardening, or in attempting to establish and shape one. Enjoy the vine!



I'll be sure to grab a few videos of the same two vines when daylight arrives on Monday August 2, 2010. I'll blog then about the growth. I suspect growth must vary from week to week. It is all very funny because I have photos of the vines from June 2010 and in those photographs the vines look so tiny in comparison to how they are now. July has been very good to us at the vineyard.

Grapevines in the ICU

This is the rough crew that made their way up to Grayslake, IL for a layover prior to reaching their permanent nesting grounds in Southeastern Indiana

This photo taken to emphasize the growth (Bud Break) on the Cabernet Sauvignon in the middle.

This is Cabernet Franc 01-2010 Chicago, fresh out of ICU in Grayslake, IL.  This vine suffering from Powdery Mildew, but on the mend.

Earlier on Friday July 23 2010 I had dropped off a few grape vines to a friend that will be taking them down to southern Indiana in the coming days. I dropped off (4) plants all told: (2) already-growing Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings, and (2) Cabernet Franc cuttings [1 is already growing but was apparently over-watered by me- big "Oops!" by a fella that claims himself as an amateur gardener].

The longitude for this particular town in Indiana is 39.3 degrees North. These plants are going to be under the careful watch of science-minded individuals, I believe there are even a few Purdue University alum in the household.  Think: engineering and science, procedure, format, building, planning, blueprints, etc. Purdue University's Cooperative Extension Service has provided many wonderful resources on the World Wide Web for amateur gardeners to reference, of which I have partaken many a time already, there is a document to reference at the bottom of this posting.  You get the idea though.  These plants will be whipped into shape in no time. It has been told to me that there will be a plan of action and there will be a program for these vines. Already, the vines have undergone early treatment from their temporary home/staging area in Grayslake, Illinois.  That is correct, these vines will be friends with the La Crescent vine (03-2010 Grayslake). 

Above this writing one will note an early photograph of the 4 vines in their existing staging area in Grayslake, Illinois (longitude is 42.344 degrees N).  For those interested, there is a soil survey that I found of Franklin County, Indiana.  This will give an indication of what kind of soil these vines will be going into.  The link for such a PDF is:

http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/manuscripts/IN047/0/franklin.pdf

The surrogate and now permanent parent for these vines provided a detailed account of how they provided early treatment to the ragtag vines that were delivered in Grayslake, IL on early Friday July 23 2010.  Here are the notes that I received by way of e-mail:

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The Cabernet Franc vines were watered too much and didn't have enough drainage. The Cabernet Franc without any greenery was transplanted to a different compost soil, similar soil that the La Crescent grape vine is thriving in (La Crescent 03-2010 Grayslake, IL). Removed saucer on both Cab Francs to improve drainage. The Cab Franc vine that had sprouted a bud break eventually lost it, it was revealed upon further examination of the cutting on the surgery table.  The cause of the loss was pinned on Powdery Mildew a by-product of having such a wet foot. Spraying both Cab Francs with mild soap and water mix to combat the Mildew. For these two vines I also lightly scraped the bark with a small wire brush, especially the bud areas to encourage growth. Did not replant the barren Cab Franc vine just as yet, didn’t want to disturb what little root system it has going.

The Cabernet Sauvignon vine (the smaller of the two in the pictures) that had recently experienced bud break did so with a bud that was situated below the grade of the soil in the pot in which it sat, so I removed some soil to expose break point to air. The heartier of the two Cab Sauvignon vines looking good but both Cab Sauv vines had dead wood that needed to be pruned. Careful to clean pruners with rubbing alcohol between working on each plant so as not to transfer disease (i.e. Powdery Mildew & anything else) from plant to plant. Made clean cuts at an angle to encourage run off and treated each cut with a little Elmer’s Glue to seal it from exposure to disease and pests.

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So there we go.  I am always learning a bundle from everyone and I definitely learned alot from this transaction and this description provided by the permanent owner of these lovely vines.  Signing off just a little embarrassed, but encouraged.

Here's a nice little document from Purdue University regarding growing grapes in Indiana:

  http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/ho-45.pdf

The Willamette Hops Monster!!!!!!!!!!! RARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

I took these photos on Wednesday July 21 2010. I wanted to keep an update on how the hops are growing. It has been an out-of-control year for them. I might have to come up with a method and figure out how to send them up to one of the tree branches and do the hops things properly. Again, in planting the hops 3 years ago, I didn't have a clue how the farmers grow them out in Oregon. But with a little help from my friend Google I have seen great photographs of how one should properly grow them, which is nearly vertically. My design is taking cues from the Encroachment School of thought.

Syrah grape vine experiments

The videos I am going to provide in this posting will indicate that I have taken some direction from a relatively nearby vineyard (west of Bloomington, Illinois). The deal is that the vines are truly enjoying the July heat typical of the Upper Midwestern region of The United States of America. Therefore they are growing like mad, which I certainly encourage. However, my poor planning (part of jumping into something that I had no idea about) needed to be addressed. I had eventually run out of wooden stake as these lovely vines were outgrowing them. In the videos one can see what I have chosen to do.

Also, because of what I have read regarding the wonderful ability of Fava Beans, I have decided to plant a few of my remaining Fava Beans (from Territorial Seed Co. - a great company, by the by) near the base of both of the Syrah grape vines growing in my gardens. I have often read about Fava Beans being used as a cover crop during the winter seasons. My idea was that maybe I could borrow from that concept and apply it a little bit early here in the oh-so urban Southeast Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. These flower beds have only been getting lovin' spoonful from myself and my neighbor in the past 2 to 3 years. I am uncertain how long it takes to get a soil back up to par after so many years of neglect and plastic covering (weed preventative methods for The Lazies out there). I'll be sure to blog about whether my vines thrive or dive as a result of this science experiment. I figure if graffiti, far-flung 40oz bottles of King Cobra malt liqour, or the Fourth of July celebrations from the locals do not harm the vines, then perhaps lowly and meek Fava Beans won't do much harm. (My Latin neighbors really know how to outdo the City of Chicago in the usage of fireworks with full f*#king report). Y'all come to the neighborhood one summer during this particular period of time and you'll get a better sense of things. Sit on the stoop, pour wine for you and your friends, have a radio playing your favorite tunes full of professionally studio-compressed mp3's and take in the fireworks. Why go downtown and fight the crowds? Just don't expect to get much sleep on the night of the 4th of July because these folks don't stop with the explosives until about 6AM.

Final Notes:
I must actually correct a misunderstanding: The Fourth of July celebration in my neighborhood actually begins around the 27th of June and extends well into the days after the 4th of July, certainly the peak is on the 4th of July. It is pretty rad, but man, I can't help but think of all of the money going up in smoke. For someone as broke-ass as I am, I weep internally when I see so many fireworks go up in smoke.

Syrah 01-2009 Chicago, Illinois (Conejo Loco Vineyards)




Syrah 02-2009 Chicago, Illinois (Conejo Loco Vineyards)

A Blend from the Garden

Here are a few photos from the garden, apart from the vines. June 2010 was a beautiful month with the Lillies. Just gorgeous colours.

This very last photo is a shot of my most vigourous Fava Bean. Sure, it is excellent that the Fava Bean provided fruit: more beans. But what I am really after is what they do with the injection of nitrogen naturally into the soil. I don't know what this is going to mean for the soils once these run their course, the one bed is almost getting entirely dedicated to Willamette Hops, the suckers are just overwhelming everything. As my friend and I wondered, we hope it doesn't result in anything like what happened with the Kudzu Ivy. There are plenty of worms in the soil, and other insects with many legs to join them in company. The first photo in this batch is of my Tall Joe Pye Weed. According to my records, all of these photos were taken on June 24 2010. The Joe Pye is even taller now!!!! Either way, just putting more photos out there.

Right now the clouds in Waukegan are brilliant. Hopefully I can get out there and snap a few shots before the perfect light departs.