"Andy Hunt" wrote in
:

Also - is it possible to grow a kiwi fruit tree from seed, or is it
best to get a small one and pot it? I have a "magic shelf" inside
where I could easily start one off, I think, even now while it's cold.
I don't know if I would be OK potting it in the spring/summer, though.

Kiwi fruit is very easy to grow from seed, and the plants are
surprisingly hardy outside. They grow on twining vines, not trees, so
might be good for your walls.

But if you grow from seed you'll have to wait ages for flowers, and
you'll also need to grow a male and a female plant - as there is no way
to sex the seeds, this means growing far more plants than you actually
need, and keeping them for several years till you can work out which is
which.

There are self-fertile cultivars available, so it would be quicker and
easier to buy a plant. I understand they do need a long warm summer to
fruit through (at any rate, the ones I grew from seed never fruited,
though they made attractive plants.)

I have just planted this autumn a kiwi relative - actinidia arguta
'issai'. This is supposed to be more willing to fruit in our summers
than standard kiwis, self-fertile, and has smaller, bald fruit like big
green grapes. I was greatly cheered when the plant arrived from
www.burncoose.co.uk in October, and proved to be already covered in
fruits, which I was advised to remove. I did, and they were delicious!

Now just hoping that it will perform as well once planted in my own
garden.


Victoria
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gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
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