Our Garden: Backyard vineyards

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Whether you want grapes for the table or the wine bottle, you’ll find that advanced planning and tender care will produce a consistent bounty.

Contra Costa Master Gardeners Brad Miller and Jim DeFrisco shared their tips for growing all varieties of grapes at this week’s Our Garden class. Here are their suggestions.

Before planting your grapes, you need to consider several factors, the first of which is where you will grow them. Grapes need at least eight hours of full sun, and they need to be in a spot where the water can be controlled. The sun, Miller says, is what determines the sweetness of the grape, something important for both table and wine grapes. Ideally, Miller says, the only water going onto your grapes should be from the sky or through irrigation, so avoid areas that get runoff.

If growing table grapes, plant near an existing support — a patio, a trellis or an arbor. If growing wine grapes, you’ll need a larger area and a sturdy trellis. Vines do well when planted in rows with plenty of room to spread out. The plants should be four to six feet apart, and rows should be six to eight feet apart.

Most Bay Area soils are perfect for grapes, which need a pH level of 6.0 to 7.5. Soil should be amended and any hardpan broken up in preparation for planting, but the vines won’t need a lot of extras in the soil.

Grapes are planted in the spring after the danger of frost has passed. Depending on the variety, harvesting is in July, August or September. Although grapes prefer the heat, there are varieties that grow well in the cooler areas along the shore.

Grapes do not have an extended harvest. When they’re ripe, they’re all ripe. To have grapes over a longer period, plant several varieties that ripen at different times.

Judging ripeness for table grapes is easy, DeFrisco says. Pick some and if they taste ready, they are. Wine grapes are more difficult to judge, although DeFrisco says a sudden influx of birds and raccoons is a good indication.

Protect your harvest from birds with netting — and be sure to tie beneath the vines. For raccoons and deer, the best results are achieved with an electric fence or shock wire.

Although some pruning is done in the spring and summer to thin the growth and ensure good production, heavy pruning is done in the winter when the vines are dormant. Up to 90 percent of that year’s grow is removed.

There are two main methods of pruning. In spur pruning, canes are cut back to leave short spurs with two to three buds. The spurs are spaced a few inches apart on the main vine. In cane pruning, the canes are thinned but are left long with many buds.

The first two to three buds on the canes usually aren’t fruitful, the next five to seven are, and the ones on the ends of the cane aren’t. In the Bay Area, canes usually receive enough sun to make those first buds fruitful, which is why spur pruning is more typical here than cane pruning. Both are appropriate, however.

When growing grapes, it’s important, Miller and DeFrisco say, to build a strong trunk and to train the vines in their first few years. That means you’ll be snipping off blooms and pruning for strength during that time, foregoing the harvest. But once established, cared for grape vines will consistently produce.

Next time

Join us for a discussion on the care and growing of roses.

The free classes are at 10 a.m. Wednesdays at the Contra Costa Times, 2640 Shadelands Drive, Walnut Creek. Master gardeners are on hand to answer questions, diagnose sick plants and identify pests. Vegetable and ornamental plants also are available for sale.

— Joan Morris

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Our Garden: Backyard vineyards

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