It's good to be somewhat acquainted with local agricultural representatives when you're contemplating big crops. As I've said, I want to plant apples and grapes at Ravenna this year. But what are good varieties for Allegany County and what are the pitfalls? (Besides disease, apparently it's deer and wild turkeys which are now hungry from the winter and eating anything with a bud on it.)
Enter Ben Cooper, county soil conservation planner who has advised my family on planting and maintaining trees to prevent erosion and improve the water quality of Town Creek. The creek is a significant contributor to the Potomac, so to all my DC friends drinking city water, I'll just say "you're welcome."
I called Ben up and it turns out he sort of knows me. "Yeah, I saw you clearing brush off the main road one day," he said. Yes, George Bush and I apparently at least have brush clearing in common. But I'll bet I'm more of a badass with a machete than he is. Then again, I don't use fire. I only go after vines and thorns.
There are no good nurseries in the vicinity, but the soil conservation folks are taking orders by Friday for an April 8-9 delivery. Ben recommended Grimes Golden. I also wanted to plant a red variety and chose Spitzenburg (I like hard apples, as well as Jefferson in spite of his hypocricies. Also, how can you possibly resist something that improves "drastically" as it ages?). The only grape variety they have is concord blue. Not great for future wine making experiments, but I'm in. Put me down for two.
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My grandpa raised York and Pippin apples in the Shenandoah valley. You might consider those varieties.
ReplyDeleteAs for grapes, it needs to tolerate lots of ice without breaking the vines. Considering just how cold it gets in France, I'm not sure what would work best. The germans grow lots of Reisling and Gewurztraminer, but I think there are other cold-resistant varieties as well. You don't have to settle for Concord grapes, which are too sweet for proper wine. Good wine comes from more acid grapes, and typically grown in very nutrient poor, silicic (sandy or clayey) soils. That also drops the yield, of course, but the whole fog-heat interaction is key to good grapes as well, and that's a California and Bordeaux thing, particularly since the fog hits a couple hours after the hottest part of the day, which has dramatic impact on the sugar production of the vines/grapes. Then again, they grow good Pinot Noir in Oregon, which has little fog and is similar weather to your own, so that might be a good option. If they get too sweet, you might add a small amount of salt to the ground to tighten up the grapes. That's a trick they've been doing here, learned from the Carneros district which gets small amounts of windblown salt off the Bay.
This is great info - thanks! I did unfortunately settle for concord this year since that's all they were offering, but there's no reason why I shouldn't plan for more varieties after learning a bit from this first experiment.
ReplyDeleteMaryland winemaking is still in its relative infancy, especially compared to what's going on in Virginia. But there's not too much difference in the climate. I'm thinking a field trip this year to check out Virginia wineries. I'm sure I'll get some company for that.