When we were asparagus picking yesterday, I noticed that the almond trees are now full of almost fully grown almond fruit, which now just hang there and ripen for a few months. We’ve been almond scrumping as a birthday treat for Ian for the last couple of years so I know that they are pickable in Mid September.
So, of course, are the grapes – however looking around, in comparison these are still just empty vines with a few leaf buds coming through. The big vineyards still look like rows of twigs.
Which made me think, in the time it takes the almonds to ripen, the poor old grapes will have to grow new branches – which can be several meters long, get fully leafed, form grapes and then ripen, all within a six-month window. It’s quite amazing to think about the growth and activity within a grapevine within such a comparatively short space of time.