With their trailing vines and tasty fruits, there are many reasons to want to grow dessert grapes in the UK. This growing guide will tell you how to grow dessert grapes in your organic garden.

Growing calendar
Plant out/transplant	Oct - Feb
Harvest	Aug - Oct

How to grow dessert grapes

Plant grape vines outdoors. Choose well drained soil in a sunny site.

Water and mulch your grape vines. Tie the 'fruiting' side shoots from the main stem on to horizontal wires 30cm apart.

Remove the growing tip five leaves beyond each bunch of grapes. 'Thin' the berries in growing bunches.

Harvesting dessert grapes

Pick the bunches of grapes when they're fully ripe - you can tell this by when the grapes become translucent.

Cut the fruited side shoots back to the main stem (to one bud on woody spurs).

Tips on growing grapes

If you can, train the growth into a greenhouse for more reliable cropping.

Growing notes
Difficulty	Trickier
Average time to harvest	From 36 months
When to prune	Late winter
Equipment needed	Wire, twine, mulch (eg compost)
Average plant size	200cm tall, 120cm wide
Seed saving notes	Specialist
Key nutritional content	Vitamin C for children