How I Grew Concord Grapes in My Illinois Backyard

When we first moved into our house twelve years ago, my husband's friend at work--who makes his own wine and has a grape arbor--heard we were sprucing up our neglected back yard. He offered us some cuttings from his Concord grape vines.

Short on cash for new plants, and thinking it would be fun to grow something edible, I said yes. A few days later, my husband came home with a dozen or so sticks in a jar of water.

"How do I grow them?" I asked my source.

"Stick them in the ground and water them," he said.

I poked one end of each stick in the ground in the sunny spot by the garage, where the previous owners had left us a decaying and ant-infested wood pile. Before planting, I'd spent an afternoon removing the pile and fending off angry ants, but the soil had lots of rich organic matter. Sure enough, after a few weeks, leaves and new branches were sprouting from the sticks. Not all of them grew, but more than enough of them did.

By fall, the vines were getting long enough that they needed some support. My husband built me a simple trellis: three 6-foot pieces of 2 x 4's inserted a foot deep in the ground, connected to one another by more 2 x 4's that braced across. He nailed short 2-foot cross pieces to the standing 2 x 4's, and I strung plastic-coated wires along the length of the trellis. I tied the vines to the wires with old nylons cut into pieces (This was the 1990's, when people were still wore lots of nylons.). One regret is that we didn't build a big strong, trellis that first year (say, 7-8 feet tall) out of pressure-treated wood. While the one he built lasted about a decade, he had to make me a new, larger and stronger one a few years ago.

My second year, I had my first crop of Concord grapes. Generally, blossoms appear in late spring, followed by tiny green mini grapes. The Concord grapes grow larger over the summer, ripening from green to purple around, or just after, Labor Day.

By the third or fourth year, I could make lots of jelly. I canned about 24 pints of Concord grape jelly.

By the third year, I'd also learned that Concord grape plants need a lot of pruning. Without intervention, they can become quite aggressive, covering everything nearby. I prune twice a year. In early spring, I heavily prune the leafless Concord grape plants back to a few, strong healthy looking vines, called the "leaders." I make sure everything is tied to the trellis. I do a second, lighter pruning in August, removing any vines that are threatening to become too aggressive.

My Concord grapes have a full, rich flavor that is quite different from supermarket grapes, which are often grown in California and Chile. They also have seeds, which means that the kids now won't eat them fresh. If I were planting now, and buying my plants, I would choose one of the seedless Concord or Niagara (green grapes) varieties now available. If you are already growing seeded grapes, you cannot plant seedless varieties nearby and expect them not to have seeds.

When I make Concord grape jelly, I pick the grapes, which hang in large clusters underneath the leaves, before they are fully ripe. I follow the instructions that come in a box of Sure-Jell pectin and can according to USDA instructions. To make and can Concord grape jelly, you will need a kitchen scale, a strainer, cheesecloth, clean jars, lids, bands, one or more large stockpots, and an open-water-bath canner. For each 3 1/2 lbs of grapes, you will also need 7 cups of sugar and 1 box of pectin. This will yield 8 cups of jelly.