The next major project is to renovate our grapevines that have been sorely neglected having been swamped by rampent raspberries which have been doing excessively well. 
The picture shows one of the vines quite clearly the rest being lost in amongst raspberry canes. There are six vines : two muscat d’alexandre (white grape), two chasselas doré (another white grape) and two muscat de hambourg (black grape). We’ve yet to enjoy a decent crop from any of these so far. I’m hoping to change that and obviously need to give them some attention. Some of the raspberries were removed and replanted in a new row further away from the vines and anything else, on the other side of the potato bed, last year. This year another section has been moved to form a “hedge” along one side of the potager fencing. However there’s still plenty of canes that need to be removed so its going to be a multi- stage operation due to the tenacity of the raspberry canes.
We have two varities of raspberries: one called heritage which is an autumn fruiting variety and another summer fruiting variety called sumo. There are no problems with this crop which keeps going with so little effort so it’s a definate must to grow. We even have a clump of raspberries in the potager which we inherited with the house. We use all this produce to make not only fruity puddings and dishes but also some lovely drinks and juicies. At some point I intend to have a go at growing some varities of roses which will give me some hips for juicing – à l’avenir!
