Garden Gossip with Lulu

Here are a couple of Lulu garden stories that I didn't post last year but thought were cute.

Lulu liked picking her own grapes.  Some of the newer grapevines grew grapes closer to the ground so they were within her reach.  Whenever she felt like eating grapes she would wander over to one of these low growing vines and help herself.  She was quite independent and preferred picking her own grapes rather then being fed grapes by me.  It was quite cute to see her tail sticking out from among the grape leaves and to hear her chattering to herself as she ate grapes.

Lulu also starting eating potatoes last year.  When I was digging potatoes, she would come and watch for worms and bugs.  Sometimes she would start pecking at a potato and eating chunks out of it.  I would try to give her smaller ones to peck at but she always headed for the biggest ones.  I stored the extra potatoes in the shed until I needed them.  One day I went out to get some potatoes and guess what I found.

 

 

Lulu had been snacking on the potatoes when I wasn't looking!  What a stinker.

 



Lulu sometimes got lonely out in the yard alone and would keep me company when I worked.  We have a triple sink outside to wash the produce.  Lulu would sometimes stand around the sink and I was afraid I might accidentally step on her.  I would get her a chair and she would sit and contentedly watch me work.  After she had enough company, she would jump down and carry on with her chickeny duties in the yard and garden. 

 

Lulu is very independent but likes to have company as well.  She has a mind of her own.

 

 





Making Raisins

The grapes were plentiful this year.  Our earliest grapes are seedless green grapes that are very sweet.  I'm not sure what variety they are but one neighbour said she thinks they are Himrod.

 

The grapes are a nice size and sweeter than any grape I've ever bought at a grocery store.

 

There were too many to eat and since they are seedless, I thought they'd be a perfect grape to use for making raisins.

 

I picked, washed and sorted the grapes.  I made sure they were well drained so as not to add to the drying time. 

 

 

The one complaint I have about this type of grape is the stem often comes off with the grape.  These all have to be removed or else you have little dry sticks on your grapes.    

 

I filled my dehydrator trays without piling the grapes on top of one another. 

 

Here are the raisins dry and ready to be bagged.  I find drying times vary from batch to batch depending on the outside temperature and humidity level. 

 

Now I'll have fresh homemade raisins for eating and baking all winter.  ;) 

 

 



Concord Grape Jam

We had lots of Concord-type grapes this year. 

 

 

They are highly scented when they are ripe and you can smell their wonderful scent whenever you walk by.

 

 

 

This year I have made grape juice and jelly and decided to try grape jam as well. My starting point was here  http://chefinyou.com/2011/10/concord-grapes-jam/  and then I made it my way.

Ingredients
16 c grapes
2 granny apples - peeled, cored and chopped
2 c homemade pectin
6 c sugar

Start by washing, sorting and removing grapes from their stems.  I found that 8 cups of grapes off the stem is about 3 1/2 pounds.



 

 

Squeeze the grapes out of their skins and set skins aside.  I didn't find that my hands got too discoloured. 

 

Here are the grapes without their skins.   Cook the grapes until soft.  Next time I would give them a quick buzz in the food processor to help break the grapes up.  I found I had to use a potato masher to help them along.

 

Pour cooked grapes into sieve to remove the seeds. 

 

Keep working the pulp until only seeds are left.  I have been adding chopped granny apples to most of my jams this year to help with the pectin.  I also add homemade pectin to all my jams.  Add grape pulp, skins, and rest into pot and cook until you reach the jam stage.

 

 

This recipe made 7 pints of lovely jam.  It was more work than jelly but now we can compare which we like better.  ;)

 



Grape Arbour Revisions

Last year I showed several of our grape arbours.   The one arbour was hard to walk under when the grapes grew so Barry added a peak to the one opening. http://mountaingardengleanings.blogspot.ca/2011/09/growing-grapes.html


The previous owners used unpeeled saplings as cross pieces in the arbour to support the vines.  It looked rustic but unfortunately, they rotted from the inside out.  You couldn't tell that they were weakening until you found broken pieces on the ground.  I was afraid the vines would break from the weight of the grapes and not enough support to hold them up.  Barry changed them all to 2x2s.  As he removed the saplings you could see that only the bark was holding them together. 

Here you can see one of the vines being held up by the new cross pieces.

Barry added a peak to the entrance of the arbour leading from the herb garden.  That way I can reach the herb garden through the arbour without having to dodge bunches of grapes.  Last year, not realizing the problems ahead and keeping with the rustic look of the arbour, we used unpeeled saplings as horizontal supports for the new grapes my son planted.  Now that we know that they will not last, we will replace them before too many vines are using them for support. 

This is the other entrance from between the two sheds that leads through the arbour to the herb garden.

We found a long string of solar lights while shopping one day and used them in the new peak.

Here is a photo at night that doesn't really do the lights justice.  They are brighter than we thought and look really neat.  I plan to get more strings and add them to the arbour over time.  We'll then have a lighted outdoor room to sit in and enjoy the late evening.

Mulching Fruit Bushes

If you remember my blog last year about using wood shavings -

http://mountaingardengleanings.blogspot.ca/2011/09/shavings.html , one of the uses were for a groundcover.  This year, we decided to buy some landscape fabric and cover the rest of the area in the back that is home to our small fruits (grapes, raspberries, saskatoons, blueberries, rhubarb and kiwi).  The newspapers I used last year are still working in the one row I tried but they probably won't last for many years.  With the landscape cloth and the shavings, I hope to have very little weeding back there.

First thing we did was do a good weeding and raked the area so it was basically level.

You can see the weeds between the grape arbor - they do have a tendency to get away from us.  Hopefully this will be the solution to that problem.

The fabric we bought allows water through it so we laid the drip hoses on top of the fabric and shavings so we can monitor it.  We found the drip line did not work well as the tiny holes would plug up so we added nozzles that mist the row.  We cut holes in the fabric where the plants were growing and then covered the whole thing with a thick layer of shavings.

We worked on one length at a time and kept the shavings away from the edge so we could overlap the next length. 

When we finished one row, we continued onto the next.  At the ends we place slabs of wood to hold the shavings in and to cover the ends of the fabric.  That way we can extend the area if we need to.  We are thinking about added some raised beds for strawberries and such and think that we will do it in that area of the yard.

We hauled many, many loads of shavings on the van and the job took us several weeks to complete but it was worth the end product.  Doesn't it look nice?  It seems nice to as we got a variety of shavings - fir, pine, spruce and cedar.

Next year we will redo the row I did last year with the newspaper and continue out that side of the patch.  :)

Growing Grapes

There seems to be many different ways of growing grapes.  My neighbour has his in straight rows growing on wire and posts.  He has a soaker hose under each row to water them.

He prunes and train the vines and attaches them to the horizontal wires.  This photo was taken earlier this spring.

Our yard came with several grape arbors.  The grapes grow up and over and make a tunnel of sorts.  Some of the grapes growing here are very sweet, seedless green grapes (variety unknown) that are great to eat and also make lovely raisins.

We added the bark since it was just bare dirt and weeds when we came.  This arbor needs some work since some of the grapes grow in the wrong direction and lay out on the flower bed on the front side.  I think heavy duty pruning is needed next year to get the vines growing where we want them.

On the way to the Abbotsford Airport, I saw fields of grapes growing like this.

I stopped to look and the top are all tied down to the top wire.

No one was around to ask why they grow them like this and I haven't been able to find anything in my gardening books either.  It does look quite neat at this stage though, doesn't it?

Here they are several weeks later.  I'd like to see them now but haven't had the time to take a trip that way.

This is the second arbor that was here when we got the place.  There was grass, mint, tulips, roses and weeds all mixed up under here.  Nothing did really well because of the shade and the fact that you trample everything when you harvest the grapes.  So I dug everything out and rehomed the bulbs and roses.

My son added this outside section on as he came home with some new grapes vines one day a couple of years ago.

My honeybunch added a peak to the entrance this summer as the vines were always hanging too low.

He also added more cross poles so we could tie up the young vines to train them to go up and over.

Here is Inspector Lulu checking out the new digs.  She approved as we've found her snoozing here in the shade sometimes.  Now all we need is to put peaks on the other entrances and put in bricks of some sort for a floor and we have a nice little shady nook.

Here are some of the grapes that have a ways to go to turn a luscious dark purple.  They will soon smell and taste heavenly.  I also use these to make juice and jelly from them.

We also inherited some wine grapes.  They are small and seedy so not great for eating.  I haven't really used them for much yet except the chickens love them as a treat.  No waste and everyone is happy.  ;)



Grape Juice

I have been canning grape juice this week and will show you a few tips to make the job easier.

After picking the ripe grapes - wash them, remove the stems and sort out the unripe or shrivelled grapes.

Most recipes suggest you use a potato masher to release the juice.  Your food processor is much easier.  It allows you to process larger quantities at once.

The processor chops up the skins and pulp but leaves the seeds intact.

Now pour the juice into a large stockpot.  Heat the grapes to boiling and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Pour cooked grapes into a juice bag.  I made mine from unbleached cotton - I found cheesecloth too thin.  I use a colander over a large pail to catch the juice. 

I cover it and leave it settle overnight in a cool place such as the fridge or a cool porch or coldroom.  The next day pour the juice slowly into a stockpot.  Discard any sediment at the bottom of the pail.  At this point, you can use some of the juice to make grape jelly.

Heat the juice to boiling point and pour into sterilized sealers.  Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

From 2 containers of grapes, I got 10 quarts of grape juice to enjoy all winter.

You can either compost the remains in the juice bag or feed them to your chickens.  :)