# The Vineyard at Pine Hill Farms: the beginning



## echoloc8 (Aug 22, 2012)

*The Vineyard at Pine Hill Farms*

Hey all! Wanted to post the follow-up to the big Muscadine question thread I posted here. All 12 vines wound up getting planted, and Alabama weather obliged my father-in-law, my buddy Mark and me by giving us heavy rainfall just as we finished planting (but a good bit before we were done hooking up the irrigation). 

Here are a few shots of the vines before we planted them (from highest elevation and best sun to lowest and merely good sun: Noble, Black Beauty, Ison, Dixie Red, Carlos and Tara). Click for the full-sized version of each picture. You can see a little Black Rot-style spotting, but I'll be spraying for that in the spring.









The holes had been dug with an auger by my father-in-law (who owns the property) a few days prior, so planting the vines was actually the easiest part of the day. 

The PROBLEM was getting the irrigation set up. The fence serving as a trellis is alongside a portion of the tree farm that's irrigated, so all we had to do was connect up hoses. Oh, and cross the partially concreted, partially asphalted service road that separated the fence from the trees, and which still sees a lot of tractor traffic. This meant _breaking rock_ with sledge hammers and pickaxes, so what should have been two hours became five.

Here are some pix of the completed trenches:













...and here's a view back up the hill (there were six trenches dug in all, three across pavement of one sort or another):




And a pic of the tools we used, including the two pickaxes whose handles we broke: 




And finally, some beauty shots of filled in trenches,




...hooked up irrigation hose,




...and the fence with its new Muscadine tenants.








The vines are small (I got them delivered as 2-year potted) but growing well. I'm able to visit them about once a week, and I'm hoping for a good crush come Fall of 2014!

Thanks again muchly to everyone who chimed in on my questions thread.

-Rich


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## grapeman (Aug 22, 2012)

I didn't respond to the other thread because I do not grow muscadines, but I will now. Welcome to the fun and sometimes aggravating world of grape growing!


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