I always worry about grape vines in the Winter. They look dead for months, just until those leaves burst open into Spring sunshine.

In preparation for the demands of the new season, the soil has been improved with basalt dust and vermicast made from coffee grounds and chicken manure.

A good dose of fish emulsion just went in, soaking through a mulch of aged wood and leaves in a shared bed of Hyssop and Comfrey. What’s left to do besides watching grape clusters form and swell, to pick them fresh off the vine in the heat of Summer.