Roses and Vines

 Over the last few weeks I have pruned the roses and our various grape vines .  The new growth has already begun.

This is our neighbours vineyard.  The weeds have been whacked and the straggly growth removed.  There are many small parcels of vines in our area.  The grapes are local varieties, white and red.  The grapes they produce are picked and juiced by hand, and foot, and give the family a few hundred litres of wine, just enough to get them through the year.  Some of the larger vineyards give them enough wine to sell as well.  The locals love to drink local wine.  They know where it has come from, how far it has travelled ( a few hundred metres), what has been put into the barrel besides the juice (nothing hopefully and certainly not sugar), and they know the gossip around the wine.  Who likes it, who doesn't, what is its percentage of alcohol, how early or late the grapes were picked and who made it.

I pruned our grapes this year helped by my grandaughters.  In years gone by various other people have pruned them , and I have done it myself a few times too.  I've learned the basics and really our vines don't seem any different whether done by me or a so-called expert.

New growth always appears, as you can see.  The vines grow fast and give us a screen of greenery around the balcony and protect our vegetable garden from the scorching sun

The vines I remove are cut into smaller pieces and after a few months are used on the bbq or in the outdoor woodfired oven

The roses are hit or miss.

I've watched others over the years prune them in various ways.  They produce beautiful roses every year.  Thus is an old fashioned rose.  I'm sure they don't sell these anymore.  Look at the size and the number of those thorns.  It always shoots up to the sky and gives us  dark red velvet like blooms.