But it's more than just a thick ivy covering the fenceboards. The grapevine, like Freud's proverbial cigar, is sometimes something more than a grapevine. To the sparrows in our yard, it's a refuge of greenery where they can observe the yard before flitting to the feeder. To the lizards, it's a prime hunting ground. To the cat, it's a green fortress; a place impenetrable, where mysterious scurrying things hide and cicadas buzz, forever out of his reach.
Grapes are one of oldest cultivated fruits. These vines are fairly easy to propigate and grow well in many areas of the northern hemisphere. There's 12 different plant genuses that we use for grapes; the most popular one has over 350 species. The one most commonly used for wine and table grapes (Vinus) has over 60 different species and nearly a thousand varieties of cultivars.
Grapevines aren't terribly picky plants to grow -- but if you expect to get grapes, they need to have a better environment than our alleyway grape. They like full sunlight and slightly chalky soil. It's important to water them regularly during the summer -- but they will die if the ground gets soggy and there's standing water around their roots. While wild grapes don't have the sweet flavor and large berries of the cultivars, they can be an interesting addition to any home garden.
It's not only the grapes that can be eaten -- the young leaves are also very tasty (remember all those Greek dishes involving stuffed grape leaves?), as can the tender shoots. And excess grapes can always be sun- dried to make winter raisins.
If you're lucky enough to find a wild grape growing in an accessible area and would like to add it to your yard, it's a fairly easy process to start your own vine. In the spring, as the leaves are forming, trim off a
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