Last year we lost all the grapes to wind. They shriveled up into tiny brown things instead of developing into fruit. So we got some reed fences from the Home Depot and so far the grapes are looking fantastic:
And the hyssop really took off this year. We planted it with the grapes last summer after a year of trying to grow it from seed and finally getting a few seedlings. We saw in a companion planting guide that hyssop and grape do well together.
Incredibly, it didn’t freeze at all and it is now in full bloom:
It’s very encouraging to see perennials thrive and we actually have three hyssop clumps.
Have to update on the gardens too, we’re struggling with critters again, but the herbs are doing well everywhere.
The leaf cutting bees are here again, but they’re not doing a lot of damage to the grapes this year. Apparently they really liked the Santa Rosa plum and once all its leaves were gone, they moved on to the pluots. I hope they’ll survive, we just planted them a few weeks ago.
The critters aren’t eating the hyssops?
There’s the about 1.5 ft tall hardware cloth fence to keep the rabbits out. The rats, mice and squirrels don’t bother it.
I saw the most amazing garden last week with very little fencing. It looks like if you just grow a LOT, you don’t need that much fencing.