A Grape-y Canopy

Our back deck is covered in a wood pergola on which several grape vines call home.  In addition to providing a beautiful shady spot, our vines produce a surplus of edible grapes.

 The predominant grape variety we grow is called Montreal Blues.  When mature, our grapes resemble those of the Concord variety.  They are red grapes that smaller and rounder than table grapes.  The grapes are not ripe yet so they are bright green.

The grapes are not very good for eating off the vine since they are tiny, pretty sour and full of seeds.  However, we have used them to make delicious grape juice and grape jelly - think Welch's but better.  The grapes do sweeten up very late in the season but by then most of them have been devoured by either the birds or the hornets.

The key to a superb grape harvest, you ask?  We have it figured out - it is essential to trim the vines right back to the main stem after the growing season.  This is a tip we picked up from visiting the vineyards in Niagara in the off season - all their vines were pruned right back.  We figured if it works for them, it might work for us too - and it did!  Here's to a very grape-y summer.