In message ,
writes
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:
"MW" wrote ...

Might get a spot warmed up in advance, and see how we get on. Nothing
ventured, nothing gained. Maybe experiment with a big tub in the
greenhouse.

Care, when I mentioned "bindweed to take over the world" I was not joking,
unless you have a commercial sized one you won't be able to get in your
greenhouse if they take off.

I recommend Ipomoea indica (learii) for that. Plant it out as things
warm up against a warm fence, and panic your neighbours :-) Its blue
flowers are very attractive, and it won't overwinter in most of the UK.

I shall remember that. Our neighbours of some 26 years decided to erect
a 6 foot fence on each side of their garden in the summer and have the
whole thing apart from a small strip of lawn concreted and laid with
slabs. It looks like a prison exercise yard. To add insult to injury,
they threatened me with legal action if I didn't have a 70-year-old
conifer chopped down as its roots spread under their fence (its roots
were not wide) and for some reason they wanted to dig a 4 foot deep
trench into which to set the fence posts, which meant removing the
roots. If they had removed my roots on their side of the fence, the
tree would have become unstable fallen down. I hate them now and shall
never forgive them. Their 'builders' also chopped down a small, ancient
lilac tree in my garden, which wasn't doing any harm to anyone, without
our permission. Our beloved tortoise disappeared twice because their
stupid builders kept removing the logs I had put on my side of the fence
to stop him escaping. In the end, my neighbour on the other side let
him stay in her rabbit's pen in her garden until the 'builders' had gone
away, some three months later. My dog ended up several houses away on
one occasion too and we were without a fence for three months. I don't
know what will happen if they try to sell the house. An 80-foot long
yard is not attractive and it will cost someone a fortune to have all
the concrete removed. Still, that's their problem. At least we can't
see it and i can hide the fence behind many plants. I shall look out
for the learii (I have never heard of it before but it sounds a bit like
the morning glory I grew last year).

In our conservatory, it grows many 30' stems in a year, but that's
only because our summer is short.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
June Hughes

It's worth having a go - I hadn't read all the stuff about needing 20-30c, sandy soil etc so we grew 5 slips on heavy clay, open ground and no protection in the East Midlands (not exactly a warm spot). All five slips survived and we had usable potatoes from two of them, including a mammoth weighing nearly a pound. I would guess therefore that anyone giving a bit of protection and decent soil should get something out of it. Cheaper to buy in the shops, of course, but that's not anything like as much fun!