Grape Vines

New Grape Vines

For years we have had a small vineyard at One Love Farm. The grapes were red and white varietals that could stand the winters in Rhode Island. However, a couple of harsh winters killed a third of the vines. Some vines produced a decent harvest, other vines, almost no grapes at all. I tried to make wine from the grapes, but the quality was never good enough for anything more than cooking. For the last few years, I have made jelly out of the grapes.

This spring I ripped out all the vines. I saved four vines and will use them to wind up an arbor I am planning to build this summer or fall

However, I wasn't prepared to give up on growing grapes. Last year I bought some vines with the intention of using them to replace the vines that were killed over the last couple of winters. I put them in pots until I could get them in the ground. Shortly after that I decided I would be ripping out the vines, so they sat in pots until today. I picked what I hope will be a better spot for the vines where they will get more morning sun and may be protected from some of the harsh winter winds that I think contributed to the demise of some of the vines in the old location. These new vines are table grapes. They are for eating and making jelly. We haven't given up on making our own wine. But now we buy the grapes from the professionals in California.