chateau hedges 2012

[benny hedges]

Mmmhh yes, it was a good year....
look what i found in my garden while weeding out stuff....testing my new chainsaw



theyre not ripe yet but theres fkin loads of bunches, all down one side in a part of the garden ive not been in all year

so far ive found blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, plums, apples (only little tho) and loads of raspberries
think i'll make a summer fruits wine when theyre all ripe

[Flatline]

If I knew how to spell it I would blow you a raspberry for showing off

[VTRDark]

so far ive found blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, plums, apples (only little tho) and loads of raspberries

Get making some pies then

(:-})

[benny hedges]

awesome! had a proper look and theyve spread all down the side of the house as well.
i'll be well pissed!

[lloydie]

very good benny
when i was a kid 11 i think we had a green house in the garden with a very large vine .
and mother made wine every year but couldnt find out why it went as fast as it did .
my brother and i used to get waisted on the stuff as she made it STRONG

[AMCQ46]

I assume you were looking for herbs and were a bt dissapointed to find fruit

[gilson]

Fantastic find there Benny.

Is this a new house of is it on such a large piece of land that you are only just fining the treasure?

Although it seems it's doing very well, pruning it back a little would spruce it up.

Grapes only form on 1year old wood. Meaning the shoots from last year's growth will bear fruit.

Bear this in mind when pruning and you'll have even more next year.

[benny hedges]

nice one i'll remember that.
ive took some cuttings off it as well to plant down the other side of the garden, and pinned some danglers to the wall to help train it to grow where theres more sun.

ive been here 3 years now and first time ive noticed any grapes growing lol... there are some parts of the garden ive never been in!
gardener came this morning to do the hedges at the front & side so i had to get up quick to make sure he didnt chop my vines down!
he said he's got some growing on his trellis but hasnt had any fruit off them yet - i thought maybe they need to be polinated from another plant but your 1 year explanation sounds more like it

[gilson]

Most of them are self pollinating but they do need dry days and insects to spread the pollen about. Hence this season being terrible in the UK.

Good luck, seems like its been looking after itself very well so no need for much intervention...

Enjoy the juice.

[benny hedges]

ripening up very well

just tried some and theyre very sweet and juicy

[VTRDark]

(:-})

[Rob]

Well done

I have an allotment and it's been crap this year with the dodgy weather

Leave them much longer and you will be able to make Ice Wine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_wine

Tried and bought some of this in Germany. Not normally a sweet white wine fan but it was bloody lovely (and bloody expensive)

[simon t]

Hi there. Looks like you may have Muscat grapes there - for eating rather than wine We've got a four year old vine growing round our porch. Got a couple of litres of grape juice out of it. That said, the juice seems to be fermenting in the bottle, so we may get something interesting yet

[gilson]

All grape juice will ferment.

Farmers in Italy simply crush the grapes in a really crude press that attaches to their PTO. Stalks, leaves and wasps often all pile in.

They just filter it and leave it. The "dust" on the graphs is wild yeast and will naturally ferment the juice. Even after a year, it tastes lovely and is probably lightly alcoholic. Keep it in the dark though otherwise it will go off quickly.

Super stuff.

Get ready to pick them, squash then and wayhay! Next Christmas party round benny's!

[Richy]

Easy to turn grape juice into wine, but more to it to make a drinkable product at the end.

Could I recommend http://www.winesathome.co.uk if you want any help or advice on making wine from grapes.. (or any other fermented beverage)

If they taste nice to eat, good chance they are eaters. Most wine grapes tend to be thicker skinned and a fair few seeds inside.