Building a grape trellis

At the end of last winter, I found a red seedless grape vine (and a pear tree) for sale at the local tractor & farm feed store and decided that I would purchase them before they died under the fluorescent lighting.  I knew enough to buy the ones that were still dormant or just showing signs of breaking dormancy to ensure they don't waste any energy to begin blooming too early.

Just before a snow storm was due to hit our area, we had a warm spell that lasted long enough for me to get both items in the ground and get a jump start on the spring growing season.

Although the pear tree bloomed just as expected, the grape vine stayed dormant for another month and a half before showing any sign of life (grapes tend to do better when it's warm).  I left the grape to grow wild so that the root system could establish itself and this season will build a trellis so that I can start to train the vine.

My first plan of action was to purchase 2 heavy duty "T posts" and drove them into the ground about 1 foot deep.  I didn't want to buy a T Post driver so I used a sledge hammer and a piece of wood to avoid too much damage to the top of the post while I gave it 20 or so wacks to drive it down as far as I wanted. This task was much easier after wetting the soil first or just waiting for a soaking rain. Note: I oriented the T Posts so that the extra surface area of the "paddles" would provide extra resistance to load once the grape vine puts weight on the whole trellis.  I don't want the posts to move with cable tension or the weight of the vines. So the flat part of the "paddle" faces are perpendicular to the cable run between the posts.

I purchased some sheathed cable long enough to span the posts and some hardware to secure the wire in place.  The most important item besides the cable is a turnbuckle to aid in adjusting the cable tension.

I mis-measured the cable and it ended up being about 6 inches too short after securing all the ends but by compressing the post tops I was able to secure the cable without needing to further adjust the tension.  

Although my trellis has 2 tiers, there is only 1 tension-er for both levels because I used a single run of cable.

parts list (stainless where available):

• sheathed cable (insulated for weather resistance)
• 4 U Bolts (allows the cable to secure to the T Post)
• 1 Turnbuckle (tension-er)
• 2 thimbles (keeps the cable from getting damaged or pinched)
• 4 wire rope clips (secures the cable end)
• 1 "S" hook

Update:
The growing season is winding down for an unrelentingly hot summer and the grape looks a bit drought stressed.

Update2:
The lower wire proved too close to the ground when the grapes grew in this year.  I plan on pruning the vine so it doesn't grow on the lower wire just so I don't have growth touching the ground and making it hard to mow the grass underneath.