KITCHEN GARDENER
Helping you get your best-ever fruit and veg
I’m adding to my collection of fruit so I can snack straight from the plants
I’m keen to add grape vines to the garden this year, but I don’t have the space in the greenhouse for more plants. So instead, I’m going to try some Pixie grapes, which are the world’s first dwarf wine grape vines, only reaching around 1m tall and growing 30cm a year.
These compact plants should look good in pots on the patio alongside the citrus (when they come out of the lean-to), giving a Mediterranean feel to the area. As they don’t produce much growth, the plants crop more than once a year, giving small bunches of fruit which I’ll add to juices and jams, as I doubt there’ll be enough to make many bottles of wine! I’m growing a mini vineyard of ‘Pinot Noir’, ‘Riesling’ and ‘Cabernet Franc’, and all will be planted in pots of topsoil mixed with a little compost, then topped with gravel to reduce evaporation.
I’m also planting up a few more strawberry crowns – a variety called ‘Mara des Bois’ – which I managed to get for a bargain price. This French strawberry is supposed to have a beautiful flavour, so it’s more than welcome to a place in the Kitchen Garden. To give them a good start, I’m planting them in peat-free compost with the crown at soil level in individual pots. These will then be left in the unheated greenhouse to settle in. Hopefully, they’ll be growing quickly and fruiting well later this year.
I’m going to cover the compost with ground shells or gravel, which should help prevent vine weevil damage to the roots, as this can be an issue with pot-grown strawberries and prevents the beetle gaining access to the compost. If you’re planting directly outside, leave 20cm between the plants to give them space to grow without crowding each other out. Once my plants are growing well, they’ll be transplanted out into a raised bed.
