I am brand new to gardening and frankly i dont know where to begin. i would like to have a grape vine but where do i start? I am also troubled by gardening lingo so in simple terms how do i start? do i just plant some seeds or get a more mature plant from a nursery? how do i set up a foundation for the vines? where do i get hte material. home depot perhaps? furthermore i would like to plant a green table grape and what is the best type to grow for burnaby bc? are the red grapes more sweeter and better to plant in vancouver? i would like to get grapes which are sweet, is there a nursery which can help me in vancouver? I'm sorry to sound foolish but i am brand new to gardenning. i dont even know the lingo bieng used on this board like trellis? thanks for any help
OK - to start with you can actually order rootstock (an established plant) from most gardening companies and nurseries - McFayden normally sells grapes of at least one variety. Your other option would be to drive into the Fraser and Okanagan valleys and ask the farmers about buying a grape vine directly from them. Then you've got grapes that you know will grow in BC. You could plant seeds, but you don't have a 100% sure thing that they'll come up, especially if they're from table grapes that you purchased in a store - these are normally irradiated when they're imported, so the seeds might not be viable. The next thing is to choose the sunniest location in your yard, and set up your trellises (click to see examples) or build a frame support that the vines can climb (this is normally called an arbour). Even if you're only going to grow one vine, you'll need to set up quite a bit of climbing space for it - grapevines get very big. I used to have two vines that covered an entire 30 square-foot deck in full shade and then went on up to cover my roof, and I lived in Zone 2a! Finally, regarding your question on variety. I was never able to successfully grow green grapes in Canada, however some of the red and black varieties did very well, and of course it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try. Green wine grapes are grown in the Fraser valley. In my experience with black grapes, Concordes are a bit tart for table grapes, but Valiants are an excellent table grape with a bluish tint to the fruit. Hope this helps!
You should be able to find Interlaken grapes at some greater Vancouver area nurseries. It has long been recommended for cool maritime climates. Other good table grapes for you would be Reliance (red) and Canadice (pink). The 'planet' grapes from the University of Arkansas- Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, and Venus, would also perform for you, but I don't think any nurseries are selling them in Canada. Grapes in this climate need a very warm site- full sun and well drained soil. They also need annual pruning to fruit well.
Hi You could also try Vanessa (red seedless) or Coronation seedless. Both are available in BC. Cheers
wow, thank you all for your help. i will head off to a nursery over the next couple of weeks. i'm assuming march wont be too late to plant a grape vine. i understand the vine will only produce grapes in the 3rd year
