[fallen angel]

Hi guys i just wanted to share with you all my bargain (well i think it is anyway) i went into morrisons today for some shampoo, shower gel and toilet roll and managed to come out with a grape vine  :shock:  it was £12.99 and i had a rough count of how many bunches of grapes are on there already and i counted about 12 so its paid for its self already really as my kids and i love grapes  

Now i just have to make sure i dont kill it  :oops:

Any advice would be gratefully recieved its a vitis vinifera "marechal foch" does that mean anything to anyone?

Kind regards Nicky

[Ice]

Be careful, once it is established it could become rampant.  They love to climb trees.  Don't forget that as well as the fruit you can eat the leaves if you blanch them in boiling water and stuff them, eg Dolmades, lovely.

[Ann]

You can also use the leaves for wine

[fallen angel]

Thank you for the info guys. Am i able to take cuttings from it to give my friends? If so how  :oops:

Kind regards Nicky

[Larry the lep]

can you eat the leaves uncooked?

[Ice]

can you eat the leaves uncooked?

Yes, but they are more digestible if blanched.  You might have a problem later.

[Scribbler]

Somewhere warm, south-facing, lots of sun and well-drained soil.

[belto]

I air layered mine years ago from my neighbour's who's vine wanderd into my garden.
Grown year after year despite cruel treatment at cutting back by my wife.planted against a wooden east facing fence.
I get loads of bunches of small grapes. This is because it is grown for it's coverage
I have also recently grown from pips of the grape  in a pot and given them to my son who wanted them for wall foliage cover.
Not sure if it will produced any fruit
Both were black fruit

[tetley]

They are pretty amazing plants aren't they?  
We acquired some with our house,  and I don't know how they get enough water.  There are 4 growing up the front of the house, the house is built on rock, and there is no soil in the courtyard, there is a scratch layer of soil where the vines are planted....I have no idea how they survive?!!

With ours, we cut back at the end of the year, and then after last frost, back to the first two buds.....then it goes mad and needs the leaves cutting back so the sun can get at the grapes.....that is the royal we you understand......I hold the ladder!!  I think you have to treat 'em mean.....(the vines!!!)

[fallen angel]

Well that gives me some hopes if they can stay alive after brutality i might not kill them  

Nicky

[Spon]

This comment is unlikely to be much use - but I am posting it as an item of interest.
Some years ago I had connections within the farming community and was discussing the planting of a grape vine with a farmer. This chap was of very advanced years and told me that a dead sheep should be put in the bottom of the hole before planting! The theory was that the vine would 'feed' off the carcass. True or false? I have no idea!

[fallen angel]

I would imagine it to be true as when foresics/police are looking for bodies in woodland a big give away is the foliage in certain areas as they feed of the goodness that the dead object puts back into the soil.

Can you tell i watch alot of c.s.i and want to become a forensic scientist?

Nicky

[Ice]

Cool.  That's made up my mind about a green funeral.  (Way in the future of course)

[wellingtons]

... but I bought quite small ones and I have yet to see a grape!

On the point - can you take cuttings?  Well my OH knocked a piece off of our smallest vine and I stuck it in a pot and its growing, so I think the answer has to be yes ...  

But then again I took cuttings from gooseberries, and all the books say don't do it like that.  I didn't read the books first clearly, but I have five small but healthy little gooseberry bushes.  Funny thing is the bushes are wee, but the thorns are massive!!

[Fat Hen]

I recently purchased a couple of grape vines a Muscat & a Franken something or other (stein) maybe.

Not a clue how to grow them but the area around my kitchen windowsill is sheltered & south facing.  Live by coast so get mild winters so thought i'd give it a go ( i'd fancied idea for sometime along with maybe an olive tree)  might as well make use of this global warming.

Anyway did internet search and found this page useful:-  http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/fruit/grapevine/index.html.