Grapes Picking Day

July 25, 2011.

We decided that it's time to pick the grapes, so we did.

We harvested two out of four rows of grapevines we grow.

The age of the vines that were making grapes are about 3-4 years old vines.

The other two rows were the ones we planted this year

so they're not old enough to produce grapes.

The state of the grapes when picked.

Our helper picking away.

The white wine grape, Blanc Du Bois, didn't do

as well as the Black Spanish grapes this year,

maybe they need more time to mature before producing more grapes.

A label of Blanc Du Bois fell off of a vine.

We're going to grow grapes using our own cutting

next year.

The clouds that gave us some shade and kept the temperature

slightly more bearable started to break out.

The high temperature was 107˚F that day.

A basketful of Black Spanish grapes or Lenoir,

the approved grape variety name for American wine.

The harvest from 1.5 rows of grapevines when

we were taking a break (about 75% of the whole harvest).

We used all the coolers and baskets we have to contain the grapes,

laundry baskets included.

Gorgeous, healthy cluster of grapes.

We had rain after the picking was done, not a lot,

just enough to keep the dust down

and put out this unusual color on the sky and landscape.

That was the last rain we had, there's no more rain since then.

We're in an extreme drought this year.

© Burke's Garden Blog, 2011.