There are two varieties of grapevine currently being cultivated on the plot. These are Boskoop Glory, a red grape and Madeline Sylvener, which is a white grape. Both are meant to be quite suitable for the British Climate. There definitely parts of the British Isles that can grow grapes, so why not the middle of land locked England. These are desert grapes, I think, so we shall see if they do produce a vast quantity of fruit, and whether anything can be made out of them. Other than eating them, it might be nice to brew something.

There is a fourth, much older grapevine in Dad’s garden. The vines produce mammoth crop in the south facing garden, and we do nothing with him. Those grapes are red, and ripen in October. They don’t particularly taste very nice though, and that is the pit fall. Hoping that next year, they can be converted into something useful. No idea what that variety is though, and I did one year squash the lot to make a litre of Cordial. Yep, a whole litre. I was there squashing for a long time.

Across the cane trellis, there are thre vines growing up and out. These vines are still quite young, have been in the ground less than five years so are very much in there infancy. It can take up to twenty years for them reach their ful potential.

With their tendrils and creepers growing without restraint, the vines are starting to look a bit wndburned. Some of the leaves are  alittle scorched. Overnight we have a our first frost, so I do wonder if the vines will look a little different today. They might also need a bit of a feed. Might dress the base with both chicken poop pellets and some fish, bone, blood stuff. I did that in the summer, and it didn’t appear to do any harm.

I do need to investigate how to prune the vines and when. That cane trellis is at the moment, barely five foot hight. This may need to be increased in time, with another trellis and some more canes to support the lower levels. Previously, I have spotted a very small bunch of graps. It was still there, when I looked on Tuesday. Not sure if it is likely to get any larger, and with the over night frost, may well have died a death.