7 things to know about growing grapes

A healthy grapevine will often grow for decades, and in addition to its delicious fruit, it can also provide excellent shade with its large, broad leaves. Here are a few grape-growing tips.

Many of the best garden varieties are descended from native strains and have fewer problems with disease than European wine grapes.

Still, grapes do have plenty of enemies, so in most climates you should expect big crops only in years when the weather is in your favour.

European grapes are most often grown in the parts of the west with long warm seasons, while American types, such as 'Concord,' have fewer problems with cold and disease in the rest of the country.

• Plant vines in early spring or fall in a weed-free, well-drained site in soil that has been amended with plenty of organic matter.

Grapes prefer a slightly acidic pH of around 6. Space vines 2.5 metres apart and erect a trellis right away.

To ensure that fruits develop high sugar content, plant the vines where they'll receive maximum sun and heat. Site vines against a wall or on a slope with a southern exposure.

Clean grape leaves that are blanched in boiling water for 30 seconds make great wrappers for savoury meat or rice stuffings, or you can use them to line the bottom of a serving plate in the same way you might use lettuce leaves.

Cultivate vines in pots for your balcony or porch. Fill large pots — at least 35 to 40 centimetres in diameter — with two parts garden loam to one part each leaf mold and coarse sand.

• Plant a vigorous variety and set up a support for the vines.
• At summer's end, you may even reap a few grapes. Repot every two years in fresh soil when the plant is dormant.

• Prune a grapevine in late winter, just before new growth begins.

Waiting until late winter makes it easier to spot the swelling buds, and it's important to prune vines back so that each one retains fewer than 10 good buds.

• Grapevines exhaust the soil after a few years, so it's important to fertilize old vines yearly with a 15-centimeter ring of balanced organic or timed-release fertilizer.
• Or blanket the ground with half a kilogram (one pound) of compost per 30 centimetres of row in late winter each year.