Grapevines are ideal plants for covering gaps on fences and walls. Plant between autumn and early spring and they will grow quickly, filling an empty space as well as providing you wiith fruit.
What to do
Make a support against a fence. You will need four horizontal wires - the first 40cm (16in) above the soil and the rest, 30cm (12in) apart.
Drill holes in fence posts and put an eye bolt in each. Loosely attach a nut.
Wearing gloves, thread wire through an eye bolt, bend it back and twist to hold. Unwind wire and cut with pliers. Thread through second eyebolt and secure as before. Tighten bolts to take out the slack. Repeat until you have four horizontal wires.
Dig a hole, wider and deeper than the rootball of the vine, 15cm (6in) away from fence.
Plant so the rootball is the same level as the surface of the soil. Mulch with leafmould or bark chippings.
Push a 1.8m (6ft) garden cane behind vine and attach to the wires with twine.
Prune vine, leaving three good buds beneath the bottom wire.
In the spring, allow three shoots to grow, securing them at regular intervals to the cane. Remove any side shoots, pruning to leave just one leaf.
In autumn, cut twine and secure two branches to bottom wire, one either side of the cane.
Cut third shoot, leaving three healthy buds.
In spring, allow vertical shoots to grow from horizontal branches. Tie to wires. Aim to have a shoot every 15cm (6in) - you may need to prune some out to achieve this. Prune any sideshoots growing the upright branches, reducing them to a single leaf.
Tie the three branches that grow from the healthy buds to the cane.
In late autumn, cut off horizontal branches and repeat the process, tying down the branches secured to the cane.
