How to Grow Grapes on Hillsides

Dig a trench 3 feet wide and 30 inches deep for planting the vine row, about six months before planting the vine stock. This both breaks up the ground and ensures the soil in the vine row is deep enough. The trench should be roughly one-fourth of the way down from the crest of the hill and should avoid the bottom of the hill. If you are planting more than one grapevine row, separate the rows by a distance of at least 8 feet.

Shovel the dirt back into the trench. In temperate areas, you must wait until early spring for planting, but in the meantime you can erect the trellis.

Dig a cylindrical pit at either end of the vine row. This pit must be double the width of your fence posts, and the depth must equal one-third of the height of the posts. Set the post into the pit, adjust it for straightness with the aid of a level and fill the pit back up. Compact the dirt in the pit with an iron tamping rod.

Cut notches in the fence posts at 16 inches, 32 inches and 48 inches from ground level. Run wire between these three tiers of anchor notches in the fence posts, tying the wire down by twisting the wire around itself with pliers.

Examine the roots of the vine stock prior to planting. Trim any roots that are longer than 8 inches with a pruning tool.

Dig a hole for planting the vine stock using a shovel. This hole must be wide enough to accommodate the grape stock but slightly deeper than the vine stock roots (roughly 9 inches in most cases). Put some dirt back into the hole and, using a garden trowel, shape it so it forms a mound in the middle of the hole.

Place the vine stock atop the mound of dirt and fill in the hole. Plant additional vinestock down the row, at intervals of 6 to 8 feet.

Allow the vinestock to grow unhindered during the first year. Water the grape vines only if you live in a very arid climate or a drought sets in.

Remove all but three or four centrally placed buds from the vine in the late autumn or early winter, following the first growing season. In the following early spring, prune all but the strongest cane from the vine. This vine will grow up the trellis.

Remove buds again at the end of the second growing season and every growing season thereafter, but this time leave roughly six buds scattered around the vine. Prune again in the spring, but this time cut off only those canes without buds. Continue controlling buds and pruning canes on a seasonal footing for as long as the vine lives (at least 40 years) to maximize fruit production.