Concord Grapes

PB loves concord grapes. Unfortunately, they are a varietal that is only seasonal and rarely in abundance when they are. We decided to plant two vines of concord grapes in our backyard.

Our house backs onto the Rouge Valley Conservation area. It's a lovely location, as we have a mature woodland behind our house and plenty of paths to go walking. We also have many different creatures living in the Rouge - deer, raccoons, skunks, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, beavers and various birds.

While we very much enjoy sitings of wildlife thoughout the year, some of them are far more adventurous and daring as they impose themselves in our yard.

We've now had the grape vines for eight years and for the past five or so, we've had fruit, well, let's say that they have bore fruit. We have probably eaten a handful of grapes in the past five years, although we get several good clusters. We've tried everything to keep animals from eating the grapes. It's predominantly the raccoons who are feasting on them, but squirrels have been known to sample them as well.

We've tried putting mothballs around the vines, as this is supposed to deter raccoons. That year, we got maybe 2 grapes. We've also tried putting netting around the whole trellis and that year we got 1 grape. I also put tiny bags around each cluster and then secured it tightly with a twist tie, that year provided us with 5 grapes and many torn bags strewn across our lawn. One year, PB rigged an electrical wire and connected it to the trellis, complete with electrical current. I was concerned that we'd end up with fried raccoons in the morning (and how would we explain this to our neighbours?) but we didn't and that year we managed to salvage 2-3 small clusters, our greatest harvest to date! PB insists that if we were to enlist my brother to build some small gibbets and hang dead raccoons from them (with signs hanging around their necks saying "Grape Eater") that this would deter others from coming. My thoughts, A. I don't really want dead animals on our property. B. Again, explaining to the neighbours would be tricky and C. I don't think raccoons can read.

So, we're left with the electrical fencing again. We have decided on a more advanced method and have purchased some real electrical fencing, from a farming supply store. Since PB has been gone, the grape clusters are slowly ripening and changing colour. We'll need to act quickly if we are to salvage this years crop. I'm hoping that they'll ripen enough for PB to harvest before he has to leave for work again. If the fencing doesn't work this time, I'm really concerned that he'll turn to the gibbet idea again.


And as a complete aside and unrelated note... on October 7th, my best friend and I will be trekking downtown to the ROM and being two of 600 enjoying an Evening with Meryl Streep! I'm so excited! WHEEEE!!