Photos-A-Plenty

Been a big bounce in my steps for the past 38 hours or so, let me tell ya'all. I really have to get some sleep, tomorrow is ramping up to being a very busy day on many fronts, personally and professionally. But, if I don't get these photos up, they just get backlogged. And that gets all too gnarley to deal with. So, let's roll.

Photo Set from Southeast Logan Square Grapevine Nursery

(The ever-popular Senor Rhubarbsky.)

(Photo indicating tremendous growth of the Willamette Beer Hops.)

(Second photo of Willamette Beer Hops.)

(The original Mars Seedless grape vine planted in September of 2009. The buds are ready to burst, they look so pregnant. Just had to snap a photo. This is also my first year pruning this particular vine. I will be very enthused if this one pulls through the winter with green leaves and shoots. After a summer of Rat poison, if this one reports a healthy condition and indicates vigor, a bottle of sparkling wine needs to be released.)

Photo Set #2 from Southeast Logan Square Grapevine Nursery

(One of the best pieces of evidence/news to come upon in the past 38 hours: developing roots.)

(Amazing roommate helping me with transplanting the Russian Mammoth Sunflower seedlings to larger containers. The Russian Mammoth Sunflowers have already outgrown their container that I planted the seeds in only 14-16 days ago. Had to be done. Whipped up a concoction of Barbeque pit ashes, Top Soil, Potting Soil, and Compost. Blended it all together in 5-Gallon buckets and troweled the product into new containers for the sunflowers and the developing grapevine cuttings.)

(Image of growth on cuttings.)

(And, another shot of the growth.)

(More evidence of growth on a few cuttings.)

Photo Set #3 from Southeast Logan Square Grapevine Nursery

(Developing roots on a grapevine cutting.)

(Another shot of developing roots from a grapevine cutting.)

(This little photo reveals how roots developed early on with this particular cutting. Indicates considerable vigor already.)

(Workstation photo #1)

(Workstation photo #2)

The temps reached 41 degrees as an average from many locations. There was also a significant wind to consider, so I decided to transplant on the landing inside the back porch of my apartment. It was warmer for me. I made the soil mixtures in the backyard. Myself and my roommate were pretty bundled up to thwart the cool air.

Photo Set from Grayslake Illinois Grapevine Nursery

(Photo from Grayslake, Illinois grapevine nursery on Monday A.M. April 18, 2011. Received 2 inches of snow overnight. Words taste chewy from previous blog posting. Chew, chew, chew.)

(A shot taken from car eastbound on Hwy 120/Belvidere Road indicating snow cover in Grayslake, Illinois/Wildwood, Illinois.)

I think the message is that April is not entirely safe in this region of the world for transplanting.

(Idea for a cheap planting container. Resourceful and re-useable product. Doesn't impinge on the 'Broke-Ass' wallet. Note the polka-dot material in the right-back of the photo. This is one of the markers being used to distinguish one varietal of grapevine from another. Picked up from the local feedstore in downtown Grayslake Illinois. Brilliant idea on part of partner-in-crime, Lisa.)

(Bottom end of cheap planting container coupled with reusing a salad or mushroom container. The mushroom container's bottom-half becomes the 'Catch Pan, or Saucer'. Nothing is left to waste.)

(Product of brainstorming for ways to come up with cheap planting containers. There are many possibilities in this world.)

(Again, another option for planting a cutting, or anything else. Plant can be easily extracted if the mouthpiece/spout is cut off initially before putting soil in device.)

More to tell from the Grayslake Grapevine Nursery, but I need more time and I need sleep.

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.

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.

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)

April 25 2010 updates

Greetings!

A couple of updates with this blog. I'll try my best to do a weekly snapshot of my favorite plants in the garden. It is clear to me, as my remarkable roommate reminded me, that these very grapevines I am growing now could well be the nexus of what I hope to conceive of and manifest as Conejo Loco Vineyards. As I read more and more from material I have gathered provided by the area University Extension programs - many of them have PDF files on how to grapes (and manage vineyards), most of them are products of the Horticultural Departments of the area universities - it is clear to me that I simply want to document a successful summer with the Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Cabernet Franc. Get them growing, observe and record as much as I am able, then make the adjustments as they are required. I also want to make mistakes from simply trying, and then I hope to garner some growing wisdom from the results and the observations. These vines are all coming up by simply putting cuttings into flower pots and surrounding them with simple soil, and NOT Miracle Grow soil. Just a cheap bag of $2.49 Potting Soil from the local hardware store.

Let's carry on with the photos. Things are growing fast



What I have here is my great hope for growing/starting a Cabernet Franc vine in Chicago, IL. The bud has really risen and changed colours in recent weeks. That seems to reflect that growth is coming as is the holy moment of 'Bud Break'. There is sure to be additional footage of either its success or its failure. Here's to hoping. Nature is so terribly unpredictable.



This is the second Cabernet Sauvignon cutting that sprouted this spring 2010. Putting up a photo here from a different setting than last week's photo. Growth is coming along nicely.



These are the beloved Willamette Hops vines. Apparently canines like them just as well as Homo Sapiens do when the fruit of the vine gets boiled down and integrated into a brew.



This is the first Cabernet Sauvignon plant that I have grown in Chicago. This is the first spring in trying to grow them and the first cutting to indicate growth. This is a particularly vigorous and robust developing vine, although it is still in a pot. Probably the next question to answer is when these need to get in the ground. I consider this an important question because, while I had success with growing cuttings of Syrah last year, I believe I may have put them in the ground too late in the year (September 2009), to be exact. Only one of my (5) Syrah cuttings that I put in the ground last September has indicated any life. But I'll take anything. There will surely be some hits and misses.



The update photo on the Mars Seedless grape vine. The leaves that are unfurling are simply brilliant. It truly is no wonder why humans are so captivated by the vine. It is amazing to see these things come alive.

updates from April 13 2010 - Garden photos

Russian Sage very early spring 2010 April 13


Red Bergamot (Monarda) very early spring April 13 2010. It survived its first winter.


I love this photo of the Willamette beer Hops because the rhizomes are just simply out of control. This is the 3rd spring that I have grown these particular hops. It is going to be a watershed year, I have a hunch.



These are Mars Seedless grapes. This will be the type that I'll use for putting on the table for snacking and sharing with friends, neighbors, etc. I thought this was a decent photo because of the silly little info card providing a white background by which to contrast and grasp the growth of the buds.


I love Big Bluestem grass. This is 'the' grass of the Midwest and Plains states, in my opinion. I would wager that any professor of Horticulture would beg to differ. I really have such a high regard for this type of prairie grass, native to so many states, when it is fully mature. I often think of Dave Scharr, an old boss from when I was a camp counselor in south central Iowa (mid to late 90's in Warren County, Iowa, to be exact). Dave taught me so much about native habitats. I was a young chap from the city of St. Louis who only knew the cutting and manicuring of urban lawns and fending off the pesky dandelion 'weed', as I understood it.

Growth updates from the garden

I wanted to provide a couple of photos from the apartment/pseudo-vineyard. I did look at my Cabernet Franc cuttings that are in the pots inside my apartment, but I didn't have enough time to set up good lighting so that the buds on the cuttings could be seen on the photos. However, there does seem to be ongoing development with the Cab Franc cuttings. As I indicated in the previous posting, these particular cuttings must be adjusting to their new environment still, and coming out of a dormancy.


Syrah Grape vine. This cutting survived the winter. Growth is coming along.


Syrah Grape vine.



A Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine cutting. This is the second ( 2 of 6) to sprout in the apartment, thus far, since planted on March 1, 2010.



This particular specimen is the strongest of the batch I planted on March 1, 2010. It is the first of the lot to have 'bud break'. Very exciting times in the southeast Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, IL at Conejo Loco Vineyards.



All photos for this post were taken on Thursday April 22, 2010.

Time to Pick this Up

Joe Pye Weed popping up out of the ground. (1st success after a winter season)


The bulk of what will be produced within the framework of this blog will center on my own experience, at this early stage and during the beginning entries. There are only a very few weeks before I embark on a career change. Part of me has considerable concern for what lies ahead. My approach to all of this will be quite similar to that of taking a butterfly (fishing net) at various prospective opportunities and simply hoping that I grab a beautiful butterfly, in my case I only hope it is meaningful employment that can pay the bills. Hopefully I can gain some more skills in areas or industries that I am interested in.


Syrah Grape Vine during 'Bud Break'. Click on photo and look at base of vine. Successful after 1st Winter season in ground.

Today I took two hours to make it back to my apartment to get away from work, as it was the case that I was scheduled to work tonight. Rest is more and more necessary with getting older. 35 is coming around the corner. But, whenever I go back to my apartment I immediately dance toward the plants and the cuttings and the seedlings, etc. I am delighted to report that I have two (2) Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings growing. The way to express this is that 'bud break' has occurred. The cuttings are from a Cabernet Sauv grape vine that my parents tend to in their backyard in St. Louis, MO. My parents' grape vine was originally planted back in March 2008. The existing one was one of a pair that I planted as a gift to them.

In addition to the Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings, I planted, last Septmeber 2009 just before the first frost, five (5) Syrah cuttings that I grew in pots beginning in March 2009. So far, only one has experienced 'bud break' after wintering in the soil and facing the weather of Chicago, Illinois and the winters that visit this region by Lake Michigan.

Thirdly, I have six (6) Cabernet Franc cuttings in pots in my apartment. I have not seen 'bud break' yet, but according to the evidence I noted today at the apartment, I am confident that I will be able to successfully grow Cabernet Franc grape vine cuttings this summer. I am delighted because it has seemed that these vines were in a very deep sleep. I had a good deal of worry in recent weeks that my purchase of these vines was for naught.


Willamette beer Hops. 3rd summer in the soil.

The entire garden, as a matter of fact, is simply erupting with life. Joe Pye Weed, Rudebeckias, Switch Grass, Hostas (3 varieties), Willamette Hops, Big Bluestem, Russian Sage, Bergamot, etc., etc. Things are looking up on many levels. I did see the Willamette Hops just rocketing out of the garden, ALREADY!!! This is my 3rd year of growing Willamette Hops in the backyard of the apartment that I live in. The 3rd year must be the charm because these living plants have covered nearly half of the area that they covered last year. AND, it seems that the hops multiplied underground, unbeknownst to me, during last year's growing season.



Willamette beer Hops. 3rd summer in the soil.

I have no idea what cards I am going to draw. What is beginning to become a very solid notion is that this endeavor of growing vines is and has to be part of a 30 to 40-year plan, part of a Master Plan, if you will. Baby steps, but solid steps.