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Hi! I'm planning on ordering 5 grape vines & several Virginia creepers by the end of this week but I could use some help.we'd like to plant 3 different eating grape vines that will hold up in Ga's clay soil. What do you suggest ( we'd like at least one to be a concord )? also, can you tell me what we need to do to the clay to prepare for planting these vines? The arbor is amost built but I don't want the vines to arrive before we are ready. we know nothing about growing grapes but are really excited and want to do it right.
Thanks
Cathlene

First off, try contacting your local county extension service. They probably have pamphlets on growing grapes in your area, and probably knowledgable agents who'll talk to you about it. Growing grapes in the South is definetly not easy but it is do-able. They should also be able to help you with varieties

How I would start in a clay soil, personally, is double-dig a strip about 2 feet wide where you want to plant your rows. Losen the subsoil real well like they say in the link, and mix a bunch of good compost in the topsoil and subsoil alike.

Also, have you thought about Muscadine grapes? They're a heck of a lot easier to grow and have very few problems.

I'm thinking of 2 blue eastern concord bunch & 1 black fredonia bunch but I also want 2 other muscadines. There are just so many to choose from & I don't know which are best! what is a county extention service? will I find it under that title in the phone book?

My local county extension service is listed under the Government/County pages of the phone book as "Contra Costa County--Cooperative Extension." I don't remember the local gov't structure in Georgia (college in Atlanta), but it might be listed as Agricultural Extension, Cooperative Extension, plain old Extension or something I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

Hi, Cathlene,

I'll also go ahead and recommend the muscadines; I have lots of wild ones growing with no care at all.

Thanks y'all ( I'm a new yorker trying to sound southern...LOL ! )
I like the photo of your babies too !

Any suggestions for a little further north in East TN? I have always wanted to grow grapes.