Three years ago I planted grapes on the west side of my house. I planted what I could get, bare sticks from my local nursery. For a green grape, I planted Niagara, which is marked as a green seeded table grape. For a red grape, I planted Catawba, which is labeled as a seeded green grape good for fresh eating, jam, jelly, juice, and wine, the pale cousin of the Concord.
Consulting with a successful grape-growing coworker I learned that you ought to cut flowers off the plants until their third year. Delayed harvesting helps to encourage deep roots and robust foliage development. I followed his advice and so this is the first year the plants have developed fruit.
The entire harvest is shown in the next picture.
Each plant produced one bunch of grapes. The flavor was really good. Both grapes taste really good. True to their label, the flavor of both is closest to a Concord grape. Although Concord grape is the classic for juice and Manischewitz wine, I find the grapes have a rich flavor and aroma. The seeds are not great eating, but the exotic quality of a fresh grape is really appealing.
I hesitate to calculate the cost of the grapes. Not accounting for three years of water and fertilizer, each grape is about 75 cents. Obviously not something I’m doing for economic reasons.