With a big expanse of South (ish) facing fence and an empty patch of soil I decided to plant a grape. It will be interesting to see how it does in our English climes, though global warming may be on my side. With any luck I'll be reporting back in a few years with pictures of lush bunches and even bottles of the finest home-produced wine. I can but hope. The variety is Pinot Blanc, which is apparently fast growing.
And yes, I know that weeding is urgently required (and in fact has been done since this picture was taken).
I’m most impressed, I’ve been meaning to plant a vine for ages now. From what I gather, keeping it from taking over the garden is the hard bit. I’m also guessing that now wouldn’t be the best time to drop a link to Bob Flowerdew’s recommended grape varieties for the British climate 🙂
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/oct/15/shopping.gardens1
I shall studiously ignore Bob Flowerdew’s thoughts, and simply hope that if he were to rewrite them today then climate change would mean a totally different recommendation.