Through the Grapevine

So although I've tried to keep busy throughout the winter with my vermicompost project, learning how to grow mushrooms, and various ferments bubbling away on the countertop (all of which I promise to show you soon), I felt like this week really inaugurated things here on the 'stead. Glorious March finally brought weather warm enough to work outside without freezing. And that meant I better get my butt out there quick and do some pruning before all those little buds started popping open. So I did. For first ever by-myself pruning project I decided to do the grapevines.

Yeah, thats right. I said grapevines.

Turns out there are some pretty hardy grape varieties that grow well up in these northern parts. Grow really well. Almost too well. On the land here are at least two (I'll probably find more after the snow melts down) really old concord grapevines that have not been pruned in probably over 30 years. The vines are so long and thick that they've started taking down trees in their wake -- huge willow branches, and entire birch and pine trees have surrendered to the brute force of these vines. So I decided this would be a perfect first project -- not only would I be improving the quality of the grapes, but I'd also be lending a hand to these innocent bystanders. And turns out grapes like to be pruned really heavily, so I couldn't really mess up. I could theoretically cut it down to a stump and it would all grow back in one season.

So, to back up a bit, a quick mini-lesson on pruning. Pruning fruit trees and vines is done for four main reasons: to improve air flow between the branches so that pollination can occur and to prevent common diseases, to increase the amount of sunlight that penetrates the plant, allowing flower development and fruit ripening, to create a sturdy framework on which fruit can develop (getting rid of dead, diseased or otherwise weak limbs), and to allow for ease of harvesting (if your grapes are fruiting thirty feet up a willow tree its not exactly easy to go pick a bunch). All of this makes for a healthier tree or vine that will live longer and produce larger, better quality fruit. There's definitely an art to knowing which limbs to take down, and how many, and its different for every plant. I'd never pruned a grapevine before, let alone an extremely overgrown one, so I did a bit of research online and learned -- as I said before -- that I could be pretty brutal.

So on Tuesday I tromped out back to the vine closest to the house, shears, loppers and saws in hand and transformed this:

into this:
Thats me on the bottom trying to demonstrate how most grapevines are usually trellised; that is, how they're supported above ground to make it easier to pick -- there's usually one main trunk with two cordons (branches) tied onto the trellis in a "T" shape and the rest of the growth is continuously cut back. Here's a before/after view from the gully that shows how I tried to get rid of everything except this one main trunk. As you can see, there were at least 8 or 10 trunks growing out of the same root system.

Before:
and after:
I don't know if it comes through in the pictures, but this was a lot of freakin' work. It was so amazing to watch the vine transform and know I was doing it all on my own. I almost gave up a few times, not feeling confident in my ability to do the job right, but I pushed through and was so amazed and gratified at what I was able to do for that part of the land. I was still pretty conservative with what I cut -- I think there's still too many branches and as you can see some of them are crossed. But after all that sawing and lopping and pulling vines out of trees and dragging limbs out of the gully into a pile (in that second picture you can see the massive brush pile to the left), I was beyond exhausted. I'll have to come back to this one, and soon, because I already saw a few buds that has opened up. Pruning, it turns out, mostly needs to happen while the plant is dormant because that is when it has stored energy to expend on wound closure. During the summer its drawing its energy from photosynthesis -- any pruning you do will therefore remove leaves and reduce the amount of energy it has to work with. Also, at that point it needs to focus on growing leaves, flowers and fruit and any other work you ask it to do would lessen the quantity and quality of those things.

So I hope Mama Nature is kind and gives me a little more "dormant" time to work with. Mostly because on my second pruning venture today, I stupidly tried to use a pole saw on a limb that wasn't really right for that sort of tool. The saw slipped, and instead of pruning the tree limb I almost pruned my pointer finger off. I was extremely lucky -- didn't sever any tendons, nerves or arteries -- but it looked freakin' gnarly. Was rushed to the ER and got five stitches -- first stitches of my life -- and a ridiculously large bandage that I have to keep on my finger for the next two days. I feel like I'm wearing one of those "We're #1!" foam hands, because I also can't really bend it with the bandage on. So although I'm ready to go full bore into this thing, I guess this is the universe's way of telling me to slow down and make sure I take care of my body -- its really the most important tool I have.

After I get this little slip-up taken care of, you can look forward to more pictures of tree pruning -- pear, apple, plum, huckleberry and blueberry are all on the list -- as well as pictures of my sweet new scar. :) I can look forward to typing with all 10 fingers and getting my hands dirty again (seed starting next week!). Stay tuned!