Our grape vines went from this in 2010:
To this in spring of 2011:
And this year we’re happy to announce we actually got some grapes!!
And we turned them into 9 jars of grape jelly!!
I’m thrilled that pruning them helped and that we didn’t kill the vines 
Our concord grape vines bushes are severely over grown. What you don’t see behind this picture is that some of the vines have snaked their way into the brush behind them, into the back yard and up the pine tree. We actually have Tarzan worthy vines to swing on in the back yard thanks to the grapes.
But anyway, despite the not-so-ideal set up, there are a decent amount on grapes on the vines. To protect them from the birds we have confined the vines behind a big net.
If this works, we should be blessed with some delicious grapes for grape jelly after the first frost. Cross your fingers!
Grapes in the spring:
Grapes by mid summer:
After my recent canning fail, I decided to give the nectarines another go.
First time failure:
I think we’ve got it down now!
Canning Success:
The first time I canned the nectarines I tried the pressure canner thinking the house would stay cooler and it would be faster. I cold packed the fruit and added hot syrup. After canning the fruit shrunk to the top of the jar and the syrup boiled out leaving my entire kitchen a disgusting mess!
This time I hot packed the fruit and used the boiling water method. The results were significantly better but there was still some floating going on. I ended up with 8 jars of nectarines, 3 jars of white peaches, cranberry peach syrup and cranberry peach jam.
Although the canning method does work, I’d recommend sprinkling the fruit with sugar and freezing them. If you have the space I think it’s a better quality product. Nothing beats fresh fruit though!
