Turn your back on a grape vine and it will lose all sense of decorum.

ine is Happy as Larry scampering up the back of the garage but left to its own devices I think it would be half way down the High Street by now.

As described in a previous post I have decided to attempt the multiple rod system.  It has two horizontal arms that grow from the original lead shoot.  From these two arms numerous vertical shoots have sprouted.  Last February they were totally dormant.  Since then they have romped away and tiny “what I call” grapelets have started to form.

I have allowed flower clusters to form on two sub-lateral shoots per vertical.  The rest of the sub-laterals I have pruned back to five leaves, effectively removing the rest of the flowers.  Those I left are at the top of the verticals where they get the most sun.  I have also pruned out the top of the lead shoot on each vertical so that it can put its energy into fruit formation.

We have had plenty of rain and the vine has coped with the rather boisterous south-westerly winds we have had of late.  Now we just need some sun.