Should I choose Achocha?

[Jeanied]

That's very interesting JeremyB - welcome to the Grapevine

[veggiechicken]

Thank you Jeremy and welcome to the Vine. I have been given some Achocha seeds by one of the others members and am looking forward to growing them this year. I'm encouraged by your recommendation. Good blog too!

[Jamesy_uk]

I think I will try and get hold of some of these seeds as well, the Father in law just had to cut down conifers in his back garden and has prepared the ground and put a chain link fence up. He has been looking for something to plant there veg wise and this looks like it would cover his chainlink fence and then some.

[daylily]

Which ones are you trying, Veggie, they could be quite different?

[veggiechicken]

Think they're Fat Baby, Daylily. I'll try any sort!

[daylily]

Think they're Fat Baby, Daylily. I'll try any sort!

Those are the really rampant kind, as by Zazen. Still fun, if you have the space.

[mrbadexample]

When should they be sown please?

[veggiechicken]

I'm going to sow mine in the next couple of weeks - whether that's right or not I can't say!! Looking forward to seeing these oddities rampaging through my garden.

[Jamesy_uk]

Right there with you Veggie, got some seeds a couple of months back and have been waiting to let them loose on my Father in-laws garden ^^

[mrbadexample]

I'm going to sow mine in the next couple of weeks - whether that's right or not I can't say!! Looking forward to seeing these oddities rampaging through my garden.

Having read some more about them I'm not sure if I've got room for a rampaging bland thing.

[veggiechicken]

I'm hoping it'll swamp the weeds!

[veggiechicken]

My achocha are climbing up a trellis but there's no sign of any fruit or flowers. They were in a pot and maybe I was too late planting them out
My question is - are they annuals or perennials and is there any chance of them surviving the winter outside?

[mrbadexample]

Mine don't look like they'll be overwintering.

I grew mine in a flower bucket. They grew fairly well considering this restraint, but didn't exactly take over. The fruit was, err, as bland as expected. Not sure I'd bother again. To be fair, I should probably have made more of an effort to pick them small and actually use the darned things.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks MBE. I'll leave them to their own devices then and see what happens. I would like to try some Maybe next year - I still have seeds.

[chris]

Forgot I'd even planted mine, I must remember to check next time I'm down the plot