Each winter the vines will get pruned back to leave the right number of buds to produce the next season’s growth – and hopefully grapes. I’m still a long way off this, and my current task is to create the structure on which the grapes will grow. The first stage is to get one single stem to grow at least 6ft so that at the end of that season it can get bent down onto the lowest wire and become the first arm of this structure. In the first year the vines have being putting most of their energy into producing roots, so didn’t get tall enough to make the grade, so, the only thing to do is cut them right back to two or three buds. This year they should grow much more vigorously and by the end of the season will have reached the top pair of wires – fingers crossed.
While I was pruning them back, I thought I’d have a go at trying to propagate some more vines. I’ve no idea what I will do with them if it works as I don’t have room for any more vines, but it’s just an experiment to see if it works. Maybe I’ll give them away as Christmas presents! So having trimmed the cuttings into lengths containing three buds then pushing them into the ground, I will leave them alone now to see what happens.
