Hi
I am planning to have a large pergola built on the back of my house and really would love to grow some grape vines and perhaps an accompianing climber.. It will be on a west facing wall in the North West of England, running the full width of the house. I am doing this as my children love grapes and I want to make a shaded area where I can sit during the afternoon (I am ginger and hate the sun ;D)
Would anybody have any advise please.
Much appreciated ;D
Greenqueen.
I have got very good results from Himrod even on a bit of fence at the side of my house (in N.London) that only gets sun after it has moved into the West - I think this is a worse situation than a west-facing wall.
Himrod always ripens well outdoors - it is very early because it is a hybrid with some N.American species from New England - it is also resistant to mildew.
Green seedless grape with a fantastic sweet flavour - I can't recommend it enough. The only negative thing about it is that if you don't pull the grapes carefully they come off with 4mm of stalk - it's pretty trivial in the balance considering how outstandingly easy it is to grow.
Check out http://www.sunnybankvines.co.uk/ - you might be picking grapes in 2012 - certainly 2013.
Cheers.
Our Regent does well here in Derby on a SW wall but Himrod sounds a better bet as we find them very seedy... because I'm never severe enough with the thinning! :-X
Thanks for this thread. I have a huge west facing wall and have never thought that it was suitable for a grape vine. It gets a great deal of sun in the afternoon but not much before. It also acts as a night storage heater so is very warm.
eresting... I might have to look at one of those cos the front of my house faces West, and has nothing in/on it ATM... how big a tub do you think I'd need?... I'm not above rigging autowatering for it so that's not a problem....
chrisc
Quote from: chriscross1966 on September 30, 2010, 13:17:57
eresting... I might have to look at one of those cos the front of my house faces West, and has nothing in/on it ATM... how big a tub do you think I'd need?... I'm not above rigging autowatering for it so that's not a problem....
chrisc
I've had trouble with getting some hybrid grapes to fruit in pots - I've never tried with Himrod because it grows so easily I've never needed to coddle it - but it was a bad idea with Glenora and Beauty (which may not be a hybrid).
It may be OK with Himrod - it's amazingly biddable - but that's a guess.
Of my new ones Reliance lived up to its name by producing 2 small bunches of spicy delicious grapes in its 3rd year in a 3L pot but Mars, Concord Seedless, Sovereign Coronation haven't yet.
Reliance is a good bet but it has a hint of that muscadine grape flavour - buy some Welch's purple concord grape juice to make sure you like it.
Cheers.
Thanks for all your replies.
I have had a good look round and emailed sunnybankvines.co.uk for advise as well and funnily enough one of the varieties they recommended was Himrod as Vinlander suggested.
So I think thats what I am going to do.
Thank you so much everybody, and if you have any other advise I would appreciate it.
Greenqueen x