Concord Grapes Came Back

I was very pleasantly surprised that my concord grapes came back this year. However, I think they are only producing leaves and no fruit. Lots and lots of leaves!

Cam and I were reading that grapes need well-drained soil to thrive. I'm afraid those boxes really hold moisture well. The soil seems to very damp inside, so the square foot boxes were probably not the best place to plant those grapes . . . Oops, it's a bit too late. I guess that's a mistake I'll have to live with.

I do wonder how much the grapes have rooted since last year. Is it too late to transplant them somewhere else? Would that kill them?

I think the soil may be contributing to why they are not fruiting but instead growing lots of new leaves. Opinions anyone?

Random Vegetation

Very strange and random things are growing in my garden. Plants that I had lost hope for are coming back to life and fruiting, and I'm getting all sorts of strange shapes in the garden.

First, let's start with the jalapeno plant. I had bought a six-pack of jalapeno plants, but sadly, I let them sit in their carton for about two weeks unattended because I was too busy with tending to other matters in the garden. Then, after five of the six plants died, I decided to toss the carton. But I saw that there was one plant was still hanging on and it didn't look completely dead. So I planted it in one of the empty squares in the SFG Box # 1. Yesterday, to my surprise, look what I found!

A brand new jalapeno growing!


The plant is still small, and I believe this lone jalapeno has no other brothers and sisters. We had bought the jalapeno in hopes of making salsa. Obviously one jalapeno is not enough, but it is still quite a nice surprise! I wonder if it will grow any larger! Or even change color.

In another SFG box, I found that my pickling cucumber variety has spawn the fattest, strangest looking cucumber I have ever seen!

Below: A picklin' cucumber

It might be fat on the outside, but inside, it tastes just as fresh and cucumbery as the regular variety of cucumber that I've been harvesting from the garden. The picklin' variety isn't growing as quickly as the other kind, but it's still fun to eat. I think next year, I'll give this variety more space to grow and see how it does. I've noticed that my vegetables that have more space to grow tend to do better.

And finally, the last surprise: concord grapes! I had lost hope for the grape vine because it just wasn't producing. In the beginning of the season, there were two bunches of grapes. Then suddenly, one died and only one was left. I lost hope for the surviving bunch, so I stopped looking to see if it actually formed into grapes.

TADA... the surviving bunch of grapes ended up growing and edible. I'll admit, they aren't the most delicious tasting grapes, and they have seeds in them. But they are still cool.

Below: Surviving Grapes

Maybe next year's concord grapes will be better.

My poor Concord Grapes

Oh! Sadness. My concord grapes are not doing so well. One looks shriveled and dead, and the other has blemishes on it.


Oy me! Time to do a soil test, I know. And to add Black Krow manure. Yep! I had such high hopes of having beautiful grapes. They were doing so well for 2 months, but now the plants aren't producing any more fruit.

Grapes, Boysenberries, and Lettuce

Cam and I now have three grape plants. We have two concord grapes and one Thompson seedless. The concords are still flourishing, and the grape bunches continue to get larger each day.

Unfortunately, it seems that we have grape bunches coming from the same concord grape plant. I don't know why the second concord grape isn't producing fruit, but it hasn't yet. Its leaves are green and the foliage looks healthy, but no grape bunches. The strange thing is that the concords are planted right next to each other, so their leaves overlap, and it's hard to tell them apart.

Photo Below: Growing concord grape bunches



We've had the concord grape plants since April. And we had thought that having two grape plants was enough... until we went to the nursery last Sunday and saw the Thompson seedless. It didn't have any grape bunches on it, but its leaves looked healthy, so we wanted to give it a shot.

I love grapes, and I'd love to have a vineyard one day. That would be fun to grow grapes all day. I've never tasted the Thompson variety of grapes, so I'm hoping that this plant actually fruits by the end of the summer. That would be a very nice reward!

Photo Above: The Thompson Seedless grape plant after it was transplanted.

I still have no idea how to prune my boysenberries, but the fruit is starting to ripen and it's all happening pretty fast. It seems that I have a new, ripe boysenberry each day. Sadly, the birds have been eating the best and most delicious berries off the plant, but I've been able to pop a few in my mouth. It's quite a treat!

Photo Below: The boysenberry plant, taken late last week. See how the berries are starting to eat their color?

And with my impatience, I ended up picking a boysenberry that wasn't ripe yet. I just couldn't contain my excitement over the fruit. It was my first ruby red fruit, and so I washed it and ate it... and it was SOUR!

Photo Below: The not-so-ripe boysenberry in the palm of my hand


After I devoured the sour boysenberry above, I decided that it was best to wait and let the fruit ripen more. I read that boysenberries are supposed to get a rich, dark red color before you pick them. And luckily for me, I didn't have to wait too long before some of the other berries started to turn into that deep red color.

Below: Recent photo of the boysenberry bush


I still need to figure out how to take care of the plant, so that it will continue to fruit throughout the season. If anyone knows, I'd love the answer. So far, I haven't done much to the bush. I planted it in the ground near a trellis, and so far it's continued to produce healthy fruit. Maybe I don't need to prune it like I do the tomatoes.


Finally, a word on lettuce. After I harvested the lettuce head last week, I decided to wait to see if any of the other heads actually formed into a head. So far, no such luck. The lettuce continues to look unruly. But they still look healthy. I'm debating whether I should harvest more lettuce heads or wait until they become an actual head.

Below Photo: The growing lettuce in the backyard square foot garden. The lettuce is growing nice and big.

During the first month of our garden, we noticed that the lettuce in the front vegetable bed was doing much better than the lettuce in the back. It took a while for the lettuce in the back to catch up, but it's finally growing very strong and large. I don't know how I'm going to be able to eat all the produce. I guess I'll have to give it some of the lettuce away.

Photo Below: The lettuce in the front vegetable bed.


Photos Below: Close-ups on the lettuce in the back





Does anyone know if lettuce grows back after you harvest it? Do you have to plant new lettuce seedlings (or seeds) each year?

One very nice thing about this lettuce that we're growing: it's SO delicious and jam-packed with flavor. The lettuce that you buy at the grocery store tastes like water compared to what we've grown. I was shocked at the difference in flavor when I first ate it. It's crazy how much better home-grown vegetables are. I guess the grocers just add a lot of preservatives that make their produce taste water-down.

Concord Grapes

When Cam and I bought our two grape plants last month, they looked dead. They were both on sale, but we didn't have much hope for them. They looked like sticks in a pot. We took a chance, and we planted them. Amazingly, they started to flourish within a few weeks. The below picture is of our grape plants 2 weeks after they were transplanted.



The right plant looks much healthier than the left with its beautiful green leaves. You can tell the left plant was starting to form leaves. (Bottom center of the photo: there's something green that's growing near the grape plant. We didn't know what it was, and we were afraid to uproot it. Does anyone know what this is? Is it a weed that we need to get rid of?)



In the above picture, the right grape plant continues to grow at a steady pace, and the left one is beginning to catch up.

Above: Our grape plants today. You can't even tell where one plant starts and another ends. Their leaves have overlapped beautifully. Unfortunately, there are no grapes yet.

Below: In the middle of the photo, we think that is going to grow into a grape bunch, but it's growing so slowly that we're beginning to get concerned. Does anyone know how long it takes before the grape bunches to start form?


The leaves on the grape plants are still climbing grape trellis, but only the left plant (the one that grew very slowly in the beginning) has started to form the grape bunches. I'm not sure if I need to be concerned yet, but I think I'll need to do more research. I really would love a productive plant.

In Vietnam (where I was born), my parents made and sold grape wine. I'm hoping that if these grape plants are successful, I can learn the trade and make my own grape wine. Not for commercial use, but it might just be something fun to learn to do.