Our coastal variety grape vine is now really going ahead in leaps and bounds, in fact it has gone feral. It is amazing really, because we do nothing for it, it just seems to grow well in our thick clay soil. It now stretches right along the verandah rails (half the length of the house) and at one end disappears up into the canopy of the coastal wattle tree and at the other end up into the marmalade grevillia. It is so laden with bunches of ripening grapes I am sure that there are already many little sets of eyes watching it with great interest.
Last year we had the scrub turkeys, Lewin’s honey eaters, possums, buff banded rails and noisy miners all competing to see how many grapes they could get through. The mother possum even brought her new baby around to teach it the ropes. Fortunately there are enough grapes for everyone so we don’t mind sharing with all the other creatures - most of the time. We just wrap old stockings around all the best bunches so they can ripen in peace. Only problem is, last year the scrub turkeys started to perfect their technique of getting the stockings undone. Hopefully this year we can continue to outsmart them!
