Heat At Last

New grape growth

The average May 2015 temperature in Denver was 4.1 degrees below normal at 53 degrees F. The cool month slowed or delayed growth of some plants and postponed planting of warm season vegetables.

This first week of June turned hot with temperatures in the eighties F. With this warmth grapes finally began to grow in earnest. The late start means flowers will likely escape frost when they come into bloom shortly. This is good news for looking towards fall harvest.

Transplants of squash
and pumpkin vine crops

With increased sunshine soils have warmed over sixty degrees F and vine crop vegetable transplants can be planted.

Warm weather also means it was time to add water to the side channels of Walls O'Water (WOW) to push the tops open. This turns the structure into more of a cylinder than a cone and allows for ventilation while still keeping the plant warm at night.

Wall O'Water with more
water added to open top
into a cylinder

Keeping the WOW on tomatoes or other warm season vegetables is likely wise for another reason. May and June are active storm months for Denver and the Front Range meaning not only rainstorms but also the possibility of hail. WOW offer fairly decent protection from hail.

An understanding of temperature, it's effect on plant growth and what can be done to temper it is a must for gardening success particularly at our high elevation.

Photo credits: Grape growth, Vine crop transplants, Wall O'Water - All Carl Wilson

Great Grapes

If you’re thinking about planting table grapes in your Front Range home garden, good thought. They require little care, don’t require much space because they grow vertically, and can be very productive. Everybody in this area thinks of the very reliable Concord variety, but there are alternatives. Other seeded types include Niagra (White Concord), Steuben and Golden Muscat.

I personally prefer the seedless types and really enjoy the harvest from my Himrod vine (pictured above). It’s a white grape. Other seedless types shown to perform well in Colorado State University tests are two whites, Interlaken and Lakemont, and the red grape Suffolk Red. Hopefully the new purple St. Theresa Seedless from Plant Select® will become more widely available and planted over the next few years (photo left used with permission).

Grapes are easy to start from purchased plants, or started from a friend’s rooted cane. Root by lightly scoring and burying the middle of a cane leaving the tip with leaves out of the ground (layering). By midsummer, the middle of the cane has usually rooted. Simply cut the attachment to the main vine and transplant the rooted tip to your garden. Grow on a fence or arbor and enjoy a grape harvest in three to five years.

Although written from a commercial grower perspective, the CSU Extension Colorado Grape Growers Guide publication has useful information for the serious grape grower (click underlined title for pdf file that requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader).

[Himrod grape photo credit, Carl Wilson]