The Grape Dilemma: resolved

Having the opportunity to grow things which can be turned into alcohol greatly influenced my decision to sign up for the allotment. This was after my previous wine-making activity was interrupted when the 7 year old vine in my back garden failed to come into bud after the very cold Winter of 2008/9. The old vine went out in a blaze of glory having produced 100lbs of grapes in the previous year from which I had made 10 gallons of wine, a bottle of which won 2nd prize at the local agricultural show.

Vines will form a central part of my plot but over the last few weeks I have been dithering about which variety would best suit my location. I had settled on buying Dornfelder vines. Everything I read seemed to indicate that Dornfelder would be hardy enough for North Lincolnshire and would produce a heavy early crop of deep red grapes suitable for wine making but I had some nagging doubts and never got round to placing an order.

I drove through a very snowy Holmfirth today and remembered seeing a tv programme a year or so ago about a couple who had set up a vineyard on a hillside nearby. I thought that if there was a vine variety which could survive the Arctic-like West Yorkshire Pennine climate it would thrive on my plot which is almost tropical by comparison.

The Holmfirth Vineyard has a website http://www.holmfirthvineyard.com/ from which it can be seen that their red grape varieties are Rondo, Regent and Acolon and Rondo is their strongest vine.

Despite this massive clue I stubbornly stuck to my decision to order Dornfelder vines. I emailed my order to Derek Pritchard at Winegrowers Supplies in Somerset http://www.winegrowers.info/ I mentioned that I would accept Rondo if Dornfelder was not available and I asked Derek to let me know if he thought I was making a big mistake with my choice. Derek knows what he is talking about what with having imported 840,000 vines in the last 25 years and having his own vineyard and winery.

Derek soon put me straight, "Rondo would be by far the best variety for you". It ripens earlier than Dornfelder, is more disease resistant and may require a couple of sprays against mildew compared to the 8 or so that Dornfelder would need.

So, Rondo it is. I have ordered 10 grafted vines and they will arrive in early April. I will put three rows of three vertically trained vines on the plot and the 10th will go against my south facing garden wall at home.

Boing

It felt like spring had sprung this week. I have been setting off to work in daylight and we have even had a bit of sunshine. The snowdrops are out in the garden and other spring bulbs are pushing through. With the exception of the chillies all the seeds which I sowed in the propagators last weekend are emerging and my Duke of York first early potatoes are chitting away nicely.

Today we are back into Winter. I woke up to a covering of snow and more is forecast later.

I called round at the allotment site this afternoon on my way to the Farm Shop for potatoes for Sunday dinner. Hopefully in a few months time the Farm Shop will be missing my potato purchases.

The contractor has not yet delivered the topsoil and raised beds which are due to arrive anytime this month. I did notice that David on half-plot 6 has rotivated and that Alan on plot 23 has had a large delivery of farmyard muck which was steaming in the snow. The new shed has been delivered to Chris on plot 14 (pic above) and he was fitting gutters to the shed and a fall pipe into his water-butt. Rachel (Mrs Plot 14) has suggested that we have a shed warming party. Any excuse for a party! Count me in.

Feedback

I have received some kind words of encouragement (see comments on previous blog post) from fellow allotmenteers/bloggers this week and a Blog Award too from Jo at the Good Life Blog. Thank you Jo. Jo at Good life and Damo at Two Chances Veg Plot Blog have some good quality advice on their blogs and I'll be a regular visitor to both sites as I continue in my quest for allotment knowledge. The Idiot Gardener's Blog is just hilarious and makes compelling reading and his advice about the vodka is the best I've received to date. Check out all three sites on the links below:-

http://jo-thegoodlife.blogspot.com/2010/02/planting-potatoes.html

http://theidiotgardener.blogspot.com/

http://www.twochancesvegplot.co.uk/

Sack o' Spuds

There was a sack of seed potatoes from Kings Seeds waiting for me when I got home from work tonight.

I had missed the catalogue deadline for ordering seed potatoes and was forewarned to expect some substitutes in place of my chosen varieties but as it happens they have delivered everything I asked for; 3kg of each of the following:-

First earlies - Duke of York
Second earlies - Estima
Early maincrop - King Edward
Late maincrop - Golden Wonder.

I now need store them in a cool airy frost-free place and read-up on planting times and chitting theories and work out what to do with them for best results.

The only things outstanding from the Kings seed order now are the 12 asparagus crowns and 3 rhubarb crowns which will be coming in March. I did pick up a couple of asparagus crowns and rhubarbs in Morrisons a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't resist at £1 a go. I also got some onion sets at same price; 40 red onions and 40 yellow. Still need to order the grapevines.

I popped into Wilkinson at lunchtime today. They had a few allotment related bargains and I came away with a fleece tunnel, an armful of 8ft canes for the runner beans and french beans and some 10 inch clear plastic bell-shaped cloches with pegs . Saved myself about £20 on what it would have cost at the local garden centre. Would have saved a bit more if I'd waited and bought my propagators from there instead of from the garden centre this weekend.

I will go back to Wilkinson when I have made a list of things I'm likely to need on the plot this year. Things that spring to mind at the moment are a watering can, netting to keep birds, butterflies and slugs off the fruit and veg, gardening gloves and some fertiliser.