Oops I found this post in drafts waiting to be published! This was originally written in the middle of March. We have massive grape vines at the front and back. After talking to the neighbour we think they are very, very old. Last summer they were just enormous and totally unkept but produced masses of tiny, sweet purple grapes. I’ve been reading madly to see how to prune them and I had a go yesterday as my neighbour said I really, really needed to do it ASAP as they are starting to bud (she has the same vine at the front of her house). The instructions were a bit confusing but I had a go, I was reading some other clearer instructions last night and I think I may have taken a bit too much off the one at the back so may have a poor crop this year but they can be pruned very hard so I’m hoping it will be OK and we’ll still get grapes this autumn!

This is what the back looked like pre-pruning:

Some of what came off:

And all tidy!

The good news is after worrying I’d taken too much (and seeing leaking where I’d pruned – a sign I’d done it too late!) a month later there are now lots of new leaves. I didn’t end up taking much off the front vine as I was worried about it so it will just have to be messy again this summer!