I picked grapes!

Trying one, Sep 2020

Not sure, Sep 2020

I asked the husband to take a photo of the basket of grapes and send it to me, but got these two photos instead.  Please take my word for it that there was a basketful--and that I didn't actually pick all the clusters because I couldn't reach them all;  I left about three or four for the birds.

Actually the birds alerted me the grapes were ready:  a family of sparrows were tweeting very happily in the almond tree, which is entwined with a grape vine.  I knew what that meant and I went storming over, to their great dismay.  They scattered and I quickly got a basket and secateurs to get as many bunches as I could.  Luckily only a few grapes had been vandalized and I weighed the remainder at 9 oz.  

Not a huge haul, true.  I ate most of them myself within a few days;  the son and daughter weren't too impressed, though the husband approved.  Variety Phoenix, and I bought the cuttings off ebay several years ago.  They have a nice sweet flavor but aren't seedless--somewhat of a drawback.  

 In the future I may make raisins if faced with a large enough harvest but if not, even a basketful of free grapes once a year is a nice treat, particularly since they are tucked away in the corner of the Perennials section and not actually taking up any ground space--or even casting any shade. 

I have another vine right up next to my house, which is supposed to grow up a specially made arbor in order to shade my kitchen window, but I claim late pregnancy and new baby as my excuses for not training it this spring (it had no fruit this year).  I'll definitely make that a priority next spring.