GROWING vines for grapes can be difficult, depending on what part of these islands you live in, which way your garden faces, and whether you have a greenhouse. But growing them for vine leaves is easy, productive and highly ornamental.

I don’t know of any variety of grapevine available in this country which is specifically bred for the purpose of providing home-grown dolmades, although Pinot Noir is sometimes recommended as suitable.

But any variety will do, so when going through catalogues or websites to choose a plant look for one that is considered fully hardy in your area, and which has an autumnal foliage colour that you find attractive.

The whole month of June is peak harvest time for my vine leaves. From late spring to early summer, a period of seven or eight weeks, the new leaves are both plentiful and tender. Further into the summer, they become chewy and blander, and also less pliable which makes them harder to stuff.

Of course, they don’t have to get stuffed. You can use very young grape leaves in salads, and slightly older ones in place of spinach.
Vegetables steamed on a bed of the leaves take on a subtle flavour, slightly grapey and slightly lemony.

Large, older leaves are a useful addition to pickles and ferments, their tannin keeping the pickled vegetables crisp.

For use through the rest of the year, vine leaves freeze or dry well, and the internet details several other ways of storing them, including the almost shockingly simple plastic bottle method.

Plant your vine, which is a long-lived climbing perennial, any time from late autumn until early spring.

The plant must still be dormant, and the soil neither frozen nor waterlogged. A position in full sun or partial shade will suit.

A rich, deep soil will encourage lush foliage, but grapevines will usually manage reasonably well even in dry, sandy soils.

To grow a grapevine in a container, choose as big a pot as you can, and if possible stand the pot itself in the shade while the vine grows into the sunshine.

Vines grown for leaves shouldn’t be fed, unless they’re looking particularly feeble, but they do need plenty of watering during any dry spell throughout the growing season.

You can persuade a vine to grow neatly over an arch or up a wall, or you can just let it ramble. It’ll climb through neighbouring shrubs, appearing and disappearing here and there, which can be very attractive.

Just be sure that it’s not overwhelming nearby plants, as a well-grown vine in midsummer can be impressively vigorous.

But even if it does get out of control, pruning a vine grown purely for foliage is as easy as it could be. Using fingernails, scissors or secateurs, at any time while the plant is growing, remove any length of growth that is where you don’t want it to be.

For the most part, just picking vine leaves for eating will be all the pruning you’ll need to do.