Backyard Garden

Rhododendrons relocation

I originally planned to relocate (because they would get too much sun) the rhododendrons shown below and build a raised bed for blackberry bushes with a blueberry bush to each side of the raised bed.

However, after reading more about Thompson seedless grapevines I learned that our area (upstate South Carolina) is a little cool for Thompsons. So I decided to plant the Thompson on the southwest side of the deck instead of the southeast side. I'll plant the blueberry and blackberry bushes in the terraces next to the fruit trees. I started cutting back the hedges on the north side of the house that were severely damaged from our cold winters the last two years.

I finished cutting the limbs back to the trunk and then dug out the roots with my mattock.

I transplanted the two rhododendrons to their new location and applied wood chip mulch.

I finished relocating and stacking almost all of the stone that was located around the pond and the lower deck.

So now the area for the grapevine is cleared for trellis construction.

Tomato raised bed

The tomato raised bed is going to be directly below the deck shown in the photo where it will receive morning sun.

I plan to prune the Japanese magnolia after it finishes blooming to reduce its shading of the raised bed. I'll need to relocate the pyracantha and the two small bushes next to it before starting the concrete block bed construction.

Tomato plants are considered deep rooting (24 to 36+ inches) so I'll use three courses of concrete blocks (24 inches).

Edit 21 May 2015: After pruning the Japanese magnolia, and relocating the pyracantha and two other small bushes the next task was to level the concrete blocks at the four corners of the raised bed area. The dimensions are about 72 inches by 48 inches external and 56 inches by 32 inches internal. I'll need eleven blocks per course.

The bed will get sun from about 8:00 a.m. till noon which should be about right for tomatoes.

Edit 24 May 2015: Today I finished leveling the base of the bed and began cutting chicken wire and laying it under the first course of blocks.


Edit 26 May 2015: Today I finished placing the chicken wire and the three courses of block.

Looks good man. You do great work.

Strawberry raised bed

The raised bed for the strawberry plants will be directly below the lower deck (southeast exposure) where the pond was.

I've learned that ever bearing strawberry plants begin to lose their productivity after three years but that each year they produce "runners" that can be used to start new plants. My plan is to build a three section raised bed with different aged plants in each section. Each year I'll replace the oldest section plants with new plants so that all sections should remain productive. Before starting construction I'll have to transplant the existing plants (azalea, dwarf pines, junipers, & creeping phlox) in the area and fill in the pond hole.

Strawberry plants are considered shallow rooting (12 to 18 inches) so I'll use two courses of concrete blocks (16 inches).

Modified 4 arm Kniffin trellis

William Kniffin, a 19th century American horticulturist developed a grapevine training system with the trunk extended to the upper of two braced supporting wires along which the annually renewed fruiting canes are tied and from which the bearing branches are allowed to hang down.

It's simplicity is one advantage and an increase in productivity (because of 4 fruiting canes) is another. It is an appropriate system for Thompson seedless grapevines that are more productive when cane pruned instead of spur pruned. One disadvantage is that the shoots from the canes supported by the upper wire shade the shoots from the canes supported by the lower wire. Less sun exposure results in lower productivity for the lower shoots.

I plan to experiment with a modified Kniffin 4 arm system with the upper wire laterally offset from the lower wire to reduce shading. One disadvantage of my implementation is the requirement for four support posts (two tall and two short) instead of just the normal two tall posts. I've read that the fruiting shoots on many grapevines such as Concords have a drooping growth habit but that Thompson shoots have an upward growth habit. Therefore, my horizontal support wires for the canes will be below the support wires for the vertical shoots.

The first task was to grade the area to control water run off and to make the height of the (future) canes above the ground more constant.

The red flags on the right of the photo identify a fairly large root (that I don't want to damage) from the nearby large oak tree.

I dug the hole for the first tall post at a position about 6 inches from the deck railing and offset to the outside of the railing 4x4 support post. That should allow future maintenance of the deck without too much difficulty.

The first 50 lb bag of just-add-water concrete mix was not enough to fill the hole. I'll add more concrete (slightly above ground level and tapered for water runoff) after digging the hole for the second tall post and positioning it in its hole.

All four posts have been positioned and three have been set in concrete. I used posts I had on hand and will cut them to length later when I determine the desired support wire heights.

Being a retired engineer I would have preferred a completely symmetrical post location but tree roots that I didn't want to cut prevented that.

Youre attention to detail is second to none, I am really enjoying this and making me research a lot more into all of this than before.

Planting my dwarf fig tree

Today I received an email that my bare root dwarf fig tree has been shipped from Michigan so I started preparing for its arrival. Fortunately, the location I've selected does not include a planned retaining wall and terrace because the terrain has just a slight slope. I started digging the hole with a shovel and hit clay at a depth of about 5 inches. I continued digging into the clay using my large mattock to break up the clay and separated the dug topsoil from the clay.

I want to dig deep enough into the clay to aid root development and water drainage. I've learned from digging post holes that the deeper into the clay I dig the easier it is - possibly because the clay moisture seems to increase with depth. Typically, the moles tunnel in the topsoil just above the clay but I think the chipmunks go deeper.

The dwarf fig tree arrived late yesterday so I just heeled it in.

It was smaller than I anticipated. The hole I dug was definitely wider than the recommended twice the width of the pot. I lined the hole with chicken wire to prevent mole tunnels.

Then I filled the hole with a 1:1 mix of dug dirt and compost.

I soaked the filled dirt with water and let it sit over night to settle. The level dropped almost 6 inches.

I refilled the hole to ground level, planted the tree, drove stakes into the ground, attached chicken wire to them, shaped a dirt bowl around the tree and applied wood chip mulch.

Peach tree surprise

I forgot to check my mailbox yesterday afternoon and this morning while backing out of the driveway to pick up more bags of concrete and blocks I noticed a long package sticking out of the mailbox. It contained a bare root dwarf peach tree and two bare root dwarf pear trees. The roots on the peach tree were too long (14 inches) to pot so I dug a hole on the south slope uphill from where the full size apple tree will eventually be planted.

At a depth of about 12 inches I hit a large root from the nearby double trunk oak I had cut down this winter. I cut thru it with half of a post hole digger and continued digging to about a depth of 16 inches. I've never seen any mole tunnels on the south slope so I didn't provide any root ball protection before planting the peach tree using a 1:1 ratio of compost and dug dirt.

I healed in the two dwarf pear trees in the compost bin. They have much smaller root systems so I'll probably pot them for now and plant in the fall. I graded the area to increase capture of run off water and then covered it with wood chip mulch.

Then I installed 3 metal stakes and attached "chicken wire" to the stakes to keep away rabbits and possums.

The cords attached to the stakes will be used to hold the trunk in place after it grows taller.

Cherry tree planted

I started digging the hole Wednesday for the dwarf cherry tree that arrived Thursday. I finished planting it this morning in the same manner that I planted the dwarf fig tree.

Last night it rained and a mole tunneled toward the new tree but was deterred by the below ground chicken wire I installed after digging the hole.

2000StreetRod said:

I started digging the hole Wednesday for the dwarf cherry tree that arrived Thursday. I finished planting it this morning in the same manner that I planted the dwarf fig tree.
View attachment 83451
Last night it rained and a mole tunneled toward the new tree but was deterred by the below ground chicken wire I installed after digging the hole.

Click to expand...

Nice, I can't stand the moles around here.

Thompson seedless grapevine

Grapevines are deep rooting with 60% of the roots within the top 24 inches but roots frequently dropping to more than 6 feet in good soil. Vineyard spacing of plants is typically 6 to 8 feet depending on the vigor of the plant and the quality of the soil. I might have squeezed two plants in my available space but decided on just one because of existing tree roots I don't want to cut and the work involved in preparation. I started digging the hole for my Thompson seedless grapevine.

It's 40 inches in diameter and currently about 14 inches deep. So far I've encountered a lot of rocks but no large boulders or tree roots. The plan is to maintain the 40 in. dia to a depth of 2 feet and then a 24 in. dia. an additional 2 feet.

Unfortunately, at a depth of about 3 feet I hit solid rock across the entire surface of the inner hole. Since the grapevine tap root wouldn't be able to penetrate the rock I used my rock bar to break up the rock.

Luckily, the rock was fairly soft with a uniform thickness of only a few inches so I've been able to break out almost half but it's slow going. Hopefully, below the surface of the rock will be rock free red clay that I can remove with a post hole digger.

During the past two weeks I've spent about twenty hours digging the hole for the grapevine. Just as I break thru one layer of rock I encounter another layer. I am now at a depth of about five feet with still no indications of getting past the layers of rock.

I had hoped to penetrate the rock and encounter a layer of red clay that would provide a path thru the rock for a deep tap root. Also, grapevines don't tolerate soggy soil so breaking thru the rock would provide a water drainage path. At this point I just have a large, irregular shaped stone "pot" with no drain. I'll continue breaking up stone and going deeper for a few more hours but I'm not optimistic I'll reach a layer of clay. I may have to be satisfied with just a large "pot" filled with a mixture of topsoil and compost. The area is sloped which may help but I'll still need to monitor the moisture content of the soil.

At a depth of 5 1/2 feet I finally broke thru the layer of rock into a layer of red clay. I used a post hole digger to dig to a depth of 6 feet and backfilled the hole to a depth of 4 feet with a mixture of purchased topsoil and homemade compost. Then I soaked the backfill with water to compact it and check for overnight drainage.

When the hole was backfilled to a depth of two feet I placed chicken wire around the perimeter to deter moles and chipmunks.

It took a total of twenty 40 pound bags of topsoil and an equal volume of compost to backfill the hole.

I planted the grapevine with a taproot that already had grown to twelve inches. Then I drove in a stake and tied one of the cut back shoots to the stake.

After that I enclosed the plant with stakes wrapped with chicken wire.

And then applied wood chips for mulch.

Pruning my grapevine

The delivered bare root grapevine seems to be growing normally in it's starter pot.

I identified the best shoot (vigorous and vertical) to act as the trunk and snipped off two side shoots. I left a couple buds for backup but I want all of the energy from the undeveloped root system to go towards the main trunk for the first growing season. Because of some other activities I won't have the dug hole prepared for about a week. By then the plant will need to be tied to a stake to keep it straight.

Looks good man.

Love seeing this thread updated.

Keep up the good work!

too much shade

I started the grapevine project soon after removing some trees in the winter and before the remaining trees had begun to leaf. Now that the trees are in full leaf I realize that there is too much shade from noon to 4:00 pm (obvious in the photo below) for the plant to produce a good crop of grapes.


The main problem is the mature tree that is close to the house and deck.

My wife has been concerned for several years that the large limb that hangs over our master bedroom might come crashing thru the roof during a storm. So now I have two reasons to get the tree removed during the next two years before my first grape crop.

A friend of ours came home to their mature tree laying in their bed...

I had to dig a 5x5x5 hole for a ham radio antenna tower. I hit caliche about 3 feet down and used an impact hammer drill to help break it up. At one point I drilled straight through a river rock without realizing it. It felt no different than the caliche

Looking forward to watching your vine progress. I pass by huge vineyards on my way to Truck Haven out by Salton City, CA. It's very cool seeing all the work that goes into maintaining their vineyards.

Tomato plants

After dry stacking the cement blocks I filled them with concrete to keep them in place. Then I mixed my garden soil in a wheel barrow and dumped it into the raised bed planter. It took twelve 40 lb bags of topsoil, six bags of mushroom compost and six bags of manure to achieve my desired soil height. I purchased two tomato plants that are supposed to be spaced 36 inches apart.

The one on the left is a Bonnie brand "Better Boy" hybrid and the one on the right is a Bonnie brand "Park's Whopper Improved" hybrid. The instructions state to bury 2/3 of the plant and I buried about half (not counting the degradable root ball container). I snipped off the leaves that would be below the new soil level.

There was only enough room to space the plants 14 inches from the sides and 28 inches apart. This has been a lot of work for just two plants!

Next I shortened an available 50 ft soaker hose to an appropriate length and clamped the cut off end until I can purchase a male fitting and cap.

I did not fill the corners and midway cores of the blocks because I anticipate having to build an enclosure to keep out the varmints. My new strawberries and blueberries have been disappearing long before they have a chance to ripen.

Then I covered the soil and soaker hose with pine straw to retain moisture and prevent the tomato plant leaves from contacting the soil.


Edit 6 Jun 15: I found some tomato cages in the crawl space left by the previous home owner and installed them.

They're probably taller than I need but they were free. I also found a metal male hose fitting at Ace Hardware and installed it in place of my temporary hose clamp at the end of the cut off soaker hose. At this point I guess its time to resume work on the strawberry raised bed.

Looks good as always man. Love seeing this build updated. Your attention to detail is great.

tomato raised bed walkway

The soil in the tomato raised bed is very porous. Water from the soaker hose rapidly drains to the bottom of the bed to the red clay surface and then seeps out under the cement blocks. It was apparent that after only a week of daily watering there would soon be a mud pit along the front and sides of the enclosure. I laid some on hand concrete edging on its side to act as a walkway.


The back of raised bed directs more water runoff toward the lower level where the grapevine is planted. To keep the runoff flowing in that direction I constructed a small retaining wall around the front of the Japanese magnolia root base.

I covered the loose dirt with wood chip mulch.

Strawberry raised bed

30 June 2015:
Completed transplanting bushes in the planned strawberry raised bed location.
Filled in the pond area and leveled.
Temporarily positioned the first course of cement blocks and leveled the course.


For the past few months my 10 strawberry plants have been in individual pots sitting on the steps to the sundeck. The runners of some of the plants are more than 2 feet long. I need to transplant to the raised bed soon or the runners may not have enough time to take root and start new plants before winter. All of the berries to date (small and green) have been eaten by critters. I plan to build and attach a screen top to the raised bed.

2 July 2015:
Removed first course of cement blocks.
Cut lengths of chicken wire and laid them on bottom of bed.
Laid two courses of cement blocks on top of chicken wire.


6 July 2015:
Filled cement block cores (except for those that will have anchors) with concrete.


9 July 2015:
Sole plates cut to length and drilled for anchors.
Anchors installed in sole plates.
Remaining cement block cores filled with concrete.
Sole plates positioned and anchors pressed into wet concrete.


13 July 2015:
Filled bed with combination of top soil, mushroom compost, manure & potting soil.

Transplanted strawberries from pots to bed.
Partly buried runner nodes attached to plants (about 10) to start new plants.
Positioned soaker hose, cut to length, installed male fitting and capped.

Grapevine growth - mid 1st year

The first year planted growth thru 1 Aug was encouraging. I've pruned all of the lower spurs as soon as noticed to allow the plant to concentrate on growth of the future trunk.

The plant height has surpassed the short front row stake and reached the tall rear row stake. I left two spurs at the soon to be strung lower wire level which I may allow to grow short distances.