Eisley Nursery

GETTIN’ DIRTY with the Garden Goddesses…

By Earlene Eisley-Freeman and Cyndi Davis

It’s nice to know we’re on the ‘longer day’ side of winter, meaning that after December 21^st the days gradually begin getting longer and the nights get shorter – yahoo! More time for us to spend in the yard! And January is the time we begin thinking about planting bare root crops – fruit and nut trees, berries, grapes, some ornamental trees and some perennial vegetables. But this month we’ll focus on grapes.

Grapes are great vines which can be used as an ornamental, providing shade growing up an arbor or trellis, or providing a living fence along a garden or property line. They are also a delicious fruit, useful for drying (raisins), eating fresh, canning for jams and jellies, and (of course) wines. The nice thing about the main varieties carried in nurseries is that they are self-fruitful, and do not cross pollinate. So you can mix up your selections, depending on how you plan to use your crop – plant some for wine and some for canning, or select seedless table grapes and a variety for raisins. How fun is that!!

Grapes are generally divided into three types – European, American and hybrid varieties. In our area, the European varieties generally perform best. They are usually cold hardy to about 5°F, although buds are damaged at about 20°F and some damage can occur to greenwood/new growth at 32°F. Early fall freezes can damage fruit on late harvested varieties if we have a bad year. But, hey, we live in the foothills, and sometimes Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate – darn her anyway. Take a chance, and most years we can get a good harvest, especially if you grow more than one variety. American varieties and some of the hybrids are better for shorter growing season (think higher elevations, up to about 3300 ft. el.), and are generally immune to mildews, a nice point. All varieties need some winter chill, which is usually not a problem here.

The varieties that we generally carry are ones that we anticipate will perform well in our soils and climate – for table grapes, try Black Monukka, Flame Seedless, Perlette, Thompson Seedless or Canadice. For wine grapes, try Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Pinot Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. For canning we carry both Eastern Concord and California Concord (Pierce) which are American varieties. For raisins, Thompson Seedless and Muscat of Alexandria are the most common in California although other varieties can be dried as well. As you can see, the only limit to your vineyard is your imagination. So come in and get growing – grapes arrive any day now!!

Earlene Eisley-Freeman and Cyndi Davis can be found at Eisley Nursery in Auburn, 380 Nevada St., 530-885-5163.

TABLE/RAISIN VARIETIES

BLACK MONUKKA (seedless)

CANADICE (seedless)

CONCORD ‘EASTERN’

CONCORD ‘CALIFORNIA’

CRIMSON (seedless)

FLAME (seedless)

GOLDEN MUSCAT

LADYFINGER

MUSCAT OF ALEXANDRIA

PERLETTE (seedless)

THOMPSON (seedless)

WINE VARIETIES

CABERNET SAUVIGNON

MERLOT

PINOT CHARDONNAY

PINOT NOIR

SHIRAZ

ZINFANDEL