Vineyard Selection

"Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.  He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine." (Isaiah 5:1-2)

Choosing the site for a vineyard is very important.  Here we find the expression that the chosen site is "a very fruitful hill".  The word "fruitful" is most likely referring to the fertility of the soil as being very well-suited to vinegrowing.  Notice also that the vineyard is not in a valley or even on a plain, but a "hill".  Hills or sloping land is ideal for vines because it enables full exposure to the sun's rays, as well as breezes to help avoid extreme fluctuations in temperature and humidity.  Indeed, the mountain regions of Judea and Samaria were especially well-suited to vinegrowing.  Also, we see that the vineyard was "dug up" in that stones found in the vineyard were gathered and typically utilized as terraces.

Planting

Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?" (Jeremiah 2:21)

Sometimes, vines are not what they appear to be.  There are hundreds of varieties of grape vines, so sometimes what you think you planted is not what grows!

"You have brought a vine out of Egypt; you have cast out the nations and planted it" (Psalm 80:8)

Vines can be transplanted by digging them up in one location and transporting them to another, as long as the roots are kept intact and moist.

Watering

"But there was another great eagle with large wings and many feathers; And behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, And stretched its branches toward him, From the garden terrace where it had been planted, That he might water it." (Ezekiel 17:7)

In some climates, natural watering with rain is sufficient for healthy growth, but in many others, some irrigation is needed.  The quantity of water does need to be regulated for optimal grape production, however.  Too much water yields thick foliage, but prevents the degree of stress necessary for fruit.  With insufficient water, grapes do not grow large or achieve the proper ripeness.

Training

"Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall" (Genesis 49:22)

In general, grape vines grew along the ground, and because of their location on hillside terraces, would fall over the terraces, as indicated in the expressing "branches run over the wall".  Often, however, they were trained upon trellis-work, over walls, trees, arbors, the porches and walls of houses, and at times within the house on the side of the central court, providing a beautiful emblem of domestic peace and prosperity.

"And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine" (1 Kings 4:25)

In some areas, the end of the vinestock was supported by sticks above the ground, sometimes climbing into trees or by means of poles, forming a canopy.  In that way, each man could sit "under his vine".

Pruning

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."  (John 15:1-5)

The important work of pruning vines is described above.  Those branches that are dead or unfruitful are pruned away.  Those branches that are fruit-bearing, are encouraged to more by the process of pruning. 

The vine itself has life, but not every branch that grows from the vine is alive.  Thousands of years ago it was recognized that pruning, far from being harmful, is absolutely necessary to stimulate growth and increase the yield of grapes on the vine.

"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned" (John 15:6)

Pruned branches were not left lying around, but were gathered into bundles and burned.

Weeding

"I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it."  (Isaiah 5:6)

Like other agricultural areas, vineyards become easily infested with weeds (here "briars and thorns"), requiring the use of a hoe or other similar tool to dig up the weeds at their roots and remove them.  Weeds growing too close to vines deprive them of nutrients.

"I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down" (Proverbs 24:30-31)

Left to themselves, vineyards will degenerate.  Vines require constant care and attention.

Protection

Disease & Pests

"I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD. (Amos 4:9)

Growing grape vines has always been a challenge because of diseases such as mildew, and pests such as locusts.

Animals

	"Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes" (Song 2:15)
	"The boar out of the woods uproots it, and the wild beast of the field devours it" (Psalm 80:13)

Foxes, boars and other animals are quite fond of grapes, and are a constant danger to bringing a vineyard to harvest.

ONCE THE VINES WERE CULTIVATED TO PRODUCE GRAPES, THEY WERE THEN HARVESTED