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On our new allotment the previous tenant had a large and overgrown grapevine in a greenhouse. In a fit of pique because we wouldn't agree to buy the greenhouse and shed for the rather extortionate price he asked he literally demolished them both and hacked the vine off to about 12". Having lived in Spain for 7 years I know this probably wouldn't finish it off and wrapped the stump in a plastic bag to see if it would sprout. This weekend (two weeks later) we went back to the allotment to find the previous tenant (he still has two plots alongside - something I think is most unfair given the waiting list) had taken it upon himself to remove the bag and chop the stump down to ground level, leaving the remains on our plot for us to find.

There are a couple of miniscule shoots on these two "trunks" so I am going to see if I can get them to grow in a pot back at the house. I am interested to know if anyone knows whether there is any hope for the bit of root still left behind in the allotment. Vines were regularly hacked right back in Spain and always seemed to prosper but I've never seen one quite so brutalised. We will be erecting our own polytunnel or greenhouse eventually but in the meantime I have a coldframe I can use to encourage it. But is there anything I can apply to help it along a little?

Oh dear Graye you do seem to encounter people who like to chop down your plants! I can't give you any advice about the vine but I wonder whether your neighbour will just chop it back again if it does grow? Is there any way of sorting out that problem with him first? What if he vandalises your veggies?

Yes he does appear to almost live there! His problem seems to be with the allotment secretary rather than us - we haven't actually spoken to him since we turned down the shed and greenhouse other than to ask him why he chopped the vine off. He made up some stupid excuse about having 30 days from when WE took over and started paying our rent to remove his "stuff" but that seems a complete fabrication and doesn't explain what he gained from just chopping the thing down to ground level when he had already chopped it back so severely before he vacated the plot. I think there was some animosity going on with him, the secretary and the old guy who has the other half of our plot but I have no idea what it's all about and no interest in finding out either.

The thought that he might end up sabotaging our veggies crossed my mnd but I can't believe people would actually be so petty. On the other hand I'm often amazed by the depths to which people will go for no apparent reason. We have quite a few seeds in now so I will be really upset if I suspect he has been up to no good. Impossible to prove though without developing acute paranoia!

Anyway, we will be off to Spain shortly so I think I'll just cover the tiny stump with some compost for the time being and consult some of the old guys in our village there once I get my Andalus "head" back on. One of them helped me take a cutting from a very straggly wild vine which appeared long dead with no leaves or buds one spring day a few years back. The following year it was climbing way up our garden wall with big bunches of black grapes on it.

Have a great time in Spain and fingers crossed for the vine!