I planted one last year and like you not impressed . It hasn’t done anything! Sounds like they are slow to get going! Number of flowers sounds promising!
We’ve got a glorious kiwi production line next door…
Ours was about 30 cm when we bought it and got to only about 50 cm after three years although it did look healthy. Then all of a sudden it exploded last spring. I’ve never known anything grow that fast. So, I would persevere. You will need something very tall and wide for it to grow against. I’ll be putting in a third trellis after it’s fruited making the structure about 4.5m wide by 2.5m tall. It’s already grown about 30-40 cm above the existing trellises so it’ll need a good prune and more training.
Next question I suppose is, if we do get loads of kiwi, what interesting things can you do with them apart from eat them directly or make them into wine ?
I’m just wondering if you’ve got a “both sex” kiwi plant or if you’ve planted both a male and a female.
Our neighbour was very disappointed when no fruit appeared after the wonderful floral display. At first, he decided the Bees weren’t doing their job properly and he wafted a soft brush from 1 flower to the next
After 2 fruitless years, he planted whichever sex of plant was missing and we’ve had wonderful harvests ever since.
Once the pollination has taken place and tiny fruits are forming, he carefully prunes back the excess stems/leaves… so that the energy of the plant goes into the fruits and not into the mile-long tendrils etc
and, of course, we harvest just before the first frosts and the fruit is stored carefully in a dark/cool but frost-free place… for final ripening and eating… sometime around Christmas/NewYear depending…
EDIT There was another house near me, with a huge kiwi production, and I used to take wheelbarrow loads to our school. Over the winter months, the kids benefited from this delicious and healthy fruit… for free. Sadly, that kiwi just got tooo enormous and the Owner had it brutally removed.
Ours is a self fertile variety so we should get fruit.
Nothing! They are awful whatever you do.
I eat 'em with a teaspoon (like a boiled egg)…
at school: in salads, chutneys, cakes, flans/tartes etc etc
not tried wine… yet
EDIT: here are some I gathered for our school
You need to plant a male and a couple of female kiwis or you won’t get any fruit though there may be hermaphrodites who knows. Ooh just seen @Stella beat me to it!
Yep mine’s a hermaphrodite called Jenny
Mine is self fertile as well. I can’t imagine having three of these monsters in my garden. It would be like The day of the Triffids. The flying suckers have grown about 10 to 15 cm in the last week alone.
If kiwis work feijoas might. No idea if France has any. Love them although the fruit is delicate
Apparently they will survive in a UK climate so will be good in France. Also, they are drought tolerant although not surprisingly, lack of water will make their fruit drop prematurely.
No sign of my creeping thyme seeds germinating, 3 weeks now. Seller said give it longer, was hoping to bring them with me to plant out in french garden.
Nah… you can’t bring your UK plants over here, not until they can speak perfect French and have been certified… like the rest of us
Oh wow!!!
Jealous, here’s 1/2 of mine, just rust
Onions are doing better, however I’m not sure if I should harvest the lot, this is what I pulled out a couple of days ago that had bolted, been checking and pulling a couple of times a week. What’s everyone’s thoughts, pull all up so they don’t bolt or leave them and cope with losses to get the harvest bigger? The bolted ones won’t keep, and you loose the centre, hence why thinking that!
Sorry didn’t get back sooner.
I imagine these are autumn planted sets, they mostly start going to seed end of may (here in Burgundy). What I do is when I see scaps starting to form I cut them off, you can eat them. Then I let the onions grow bigger but they mostly have large necks and 2b eaten quickly, these are not onions for storing, more of an early crop.