First harvest

We planted the grapewine in late 2002, just after we moved into the house. I bought it with my mother at a nursery north of Perth, not sure which one. It grew well and I always trimmed off the old branches, as the grapes only grow on new branches. We did not harvest much over the years, most was eaten by rodents and hopefully some native animals too. This has only changed after we got our cat. Marnie came into our house at the end of April 2009.

The year before I also grew some phantastic grosse lisse tomatoes which were ready to harvest in mid January. But the animals were faster and found the tomatoes before I took them off the plant. That was it, as not only the half ripe ones were eaten but as well the green ones and the result was tomatoes from the shops.

That year we made the same experience with the grapes. As soon as they got softer and redder the animals moved in. I think they held a big party where they invited all their friends along as well. In two nights all grapes went and there was no harvest. Very sad event, but we still hoped that the grapes had gone to a good cause, feeding native animals. Although the verocity with which the grapes disappeared and the neighbours chook pen with chook food present at all times made it a lot more likely that the culprits were mice and also rats.

All this has changed with Marnie. I wrote a whole article about her on my other blog. Anyway, she is lovely and has done a big dent into the mouse plague. This year the grape wine is in good shape and full of fruit. It is a red variety, smooth taste with a few pips. The first red grapes have appeared and I like picking them off the plant in the morning at my first walk through the garden.