Some Dirty Thoughts

My love of gardening has been with me for most of my years on this wonderful earth. Knowledge has been gained by trial and error. A day, an hour, five minutes immersed in communing with the soil is never a waste of time. The result for both mind and body is grounding and rewarding. 

Delve into the arms of Mother Nature

Pruning my grapevines. This is the first one. Will grow this ball with each vine I have here in Petone. I have propagated a very old vine first discovered in Rakaia when I lived there. It was growing at the local electrician’s grandmother’s house. She remembered eating the grapes as a child. It originated from the first French settlers that arrived in Akaroa, Banks Penninsula. They came to Rakaia, via the ferryman as there was no bridge back then, to swap these cuttings for grain seeds. I sent a sample of this vine to UCLA Davis for DNA testing. It came back as a nameless hybrid, so I was invited to name it. I call it the Helena vine. The Helena vine is early ripening, thin skinned, red grape prone to some hen and chickens due to it having Leaf Roll Virus 3. This is not a serious virus but does cause the leaves to turn red quite early in the season.  Thankfully it is an early ripener so this doesn’t seem to affect the flavour of the grapes.  They are delicious.