Friday, March 3, 2006

Figs and Grapes:
I’m not crazy about the orange trim color on this house and the privacy wall needs to be power washed but I just love the grape vines. Most of the private houses in Podgorica have grape vines—usually on trellises or arbors—and fig trees. The white arched frame is the arbor to support the vines once they’ve started their spring growth.

Grapes are produced on new vine growth each year and the vines require substantial pruning in late winter to ensure a good crop in the summer.
Here’s a closer look at some of the pruned vines.

This fig tree was apparently planted a little too close to the sidewalk. The property owner has cut some thorny saplings that run parallel with the top of the fence. You can’t see them well in the photo but last summer, if you’d tried to grab a ripe fig, you would have gotten pricked by the thorns. The homeowner has also used a tree limb to prop up the fence, probably done before turning to the thorns to keep people away from the fruit. The rectangular objects are salvaged sections of concrete, used to hold in the soil and add a bottom to the fence.

I've also seen olive trees, kiwi vines--they look similar to grape vines, and both lemon and orange trees, loaded with fruit. The citrus trees were on the coast.

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