The Guide to Grape Growing

Most of us are probably trying to expand our lovely gardens by growing table grapes. If you're a wine or slipskin grape grower, then you can skip this bit and go down to your sections below. On the other hand, if you're growing table grapes then you should take this section to heart. Here are a few things you should avoid when growing table grapes:

1. Be Aware- It sound silly, but there are quite a few people that are unaware of just what type of variety of table grape they're growing. Grape growing isn't hard, but if you try to use the wrong methods to nurture the wrong type of grape it can be disastrous and frustrating. Know what types grow best around you and know how to work with them.

2. Prune Effectively- Don't fall into the trap of thinking grapes can manage themselves; grapevines are likely to get into a tangled mess, and this can be disastrous. Make sure you keep them pruned nicely and keep them from tangling in on themselves.

3. Harvest At the Right Time - The final tidbit of advice I'd like to give you on table grape growing is not to harvest too early. This can make the sugar content too low and the table grapes will be bland. Don't just harvest when the color starts to change like with other fruits; take care and get a refractometer which will allow you to measure the sugar content of the grapes. Get them when it's between 16-18%.

Okay, so slipskin grapes lose their skin easily as a general rule; it has little to do with your mad grape growing skills. How do you get slipskin grapes to grow? Well, the short and tall of it is the same as table grapes! Some basic steps:

1.Choosing an Appropriate Grape- Some climates can give yield to better results than others with the same grapes. Choose wisely and ask for advice before making your final decision on which types.

2.Plant- Start off nice and easy; choose a part of your garden that gets lots of sunlight and has soft, loose soil. Or create a spot if you need.

3. Provide Support- For your grapevines, that is. You will probably need a trellis or maybe a good fence to keep your grapevines under control.

4. Prune- Simple, yet effective. Prune your grapevines and have fun doing it!

Slipskin grapes are amazingly delectable to some, and you can grow your own if you manage them right. More tips on slipskin grape growing can be found in The Art of Grape Growing.

Pardon the pun, but it is intoxicating to work with wine grapes! These grapes are most often used to make wine, but that doesn't mean they're exclusive to vineyards or some such. Quite the opposite; you can find a lot of people that make their own wine nowadays! Now you can too! A few tips to wine grape growing are:

1. Get Space- Plenty of space is needed for wine grapes. Why? Because yielding wine from grapes is difficult with few grapes; the more grapes you have the more wine, hence, the more room you need for grape growing.

2. Get Sunlight- Okay, so this is pretty obvious, but it goes doubly so for most wine grapes. You need a lot of sunlight, and a lot of heat to get the best harvest consistently.

3. Get Mean- That's right, get a little mean with your grape growing. And by "mean" I mean you need to keep your grapes planted in low nutrient soil. Why? Because this will agitate the grapevines you plant and they'll produce smaller berries that have less juice. Wine is dependant on the skin of berries, so this is good.

Grape growing is really an enjoyable hobby, and one that takes time to yield the benefits like wine or grapes that can be made into jelly. That being said, I wouldn't trade the time and careful management of grapevines for store bought any day of the week! Hope this lens helped you a little, and if you still want more information on grape growing, managing grapevines, and much more, check out: