Grapes in a cold climate – prune hard and keep under cover
“The sweetest grapes hang highest” goes that famous old proverb. Except, of course, if you happen to garden in Ireland, in which case the sweetest grapes are almost certainly going to be those grown under cover of a conservatory, glasshouse or polytunnel. This is because, very much like its gastronomic soul-mate the olive tree, the grapevine loves the kind of long growing season, prolonged summer heat and bright sunlight rarely provided by an average Irish growing year. So while the vines will crop reliably in many other European countries including parts of the UK, our damper, cooler climate makes it a gamble to grow them outdoors. There are exceptions to this rule. The most notable is the red wine grape variety now known as Rondo, an exceptionally hardy, disease-resistant, productive, early-ripening cultivar introduced into cultivation as a result of a Czech/German breeding programme. Rondo aside, there are handful of other grape varieties that have also p...