Hi,
One more thread and then I think I’ll stop bothering you all with questions 
Still debating what to do with this space (3.5’ x 25’), but now leaning towards either Arctic Kiwi or Hardy Kiwi. Starting a new thread to focus on kiwi!
The problem is we have very heavy clay loam soil that holds water. If I do 2 or 3 raised beds and add/amend the soil, do you think it will work? One M and 1-2 F plant and trellis between? Any recommendations on how big/deep the raised bed would need to be? And any recommendation if one variety or another will do better with wet feet? I’d love to see pictures of your trellised vines!
Thank you!
I have about 12” of well-draining soil with a 7pH before I hit clay. When it rains hard my yard can hold several inches of water for about 30 minutes after the rain stops. I grow 3 varieties and a male of the arctic kiwi in the ground, on about 3” tall mounds of very loose soil topped with a couple more inches of mulch. It has been no problem for my “Meader” male and my “Ken’s Red” female (this will be year 4), but I have had my “Chang-Bai” and “Michigan State” die over past winters, I suspect because the soil might keep their roots wet for too long. My replacement “Chang-Bai” is on its 2nd year and already looking good and I am waiting until May to transplant my replacement “Michigan State”.
I say all of that to say…at least 16” of well-draining soil and they should be fine with that.
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Thank you! That is good to hear! I’m definitely thinking kiwi will be the way to go, leaning towards an arctic variety even though it’s slower growing as I understand it. I’m wondering if it will handle Colorado’s insance temperature fluctuations better.
We’ll probably build our own beds and I was debating between 11" high or 16.5" (2 or 3 cedar 2x6 boards lol). I’ll go with 3 boards high as a minimum! Do you think 2 ft x 2 ft square would be enough? Or I can go as big as 40" square. I’d love to see pictures of your plants if you have them!
i have heavy clay soil here full of fist sized rocks. i planted in ground adding some perlite and the arctic kiwi grow just fine with a liitle mulch and some fertilizer occasionally.
@steveb4 I’m starting to think you have every fruiting plant possible!! You have so much advice. I’d love to see your garden
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its actually my whole lawn or what once was a lawn. got over 60 different fruit trees, plants and a bunch of nuts in there. still adding and subtracting for stuff that doesnt work out. i keep saying i dont have anymore room then i make more. ill see if i can post a pic this spring as soon as everything leafs out. its great as its reduced my mowing to 1/3rd of what it used to be. as all my bigger plants grow out, it should shade out alot more grass further reducing my mowing . ive also started growing shade loving plants on the north side of my rows. as it gets more shady they should spread into the lawn that shaded out.
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if you’re short on space you might want to grow arctic kiwis instead of the regular cold hardy ones. they are easier to control and can be kept smaller.
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Your yard sounds awesome! The more I research the more I’m leaning towards a kolomikta un that spacecfor sure. Do you have any favorite cultivars? Was looking at Krupnoplodnaya but can’t decide on another female variety. Maybe Pasha for male? I’m open to ideas! And any favorite online nursery in the very likely case I can’t find the varieties I want locally?
Also thinking of tossing down a few hardy kiwi in the narrow yard on the west side of the house where we don’t have anything going on, mostly because the Ken’s Red looks awesome. We’d just leave those to the mercy of our soil and they can take over anything they want to there, our neighbor on that side has an equally empty yard on the other side of the fence and would welcome an unruly kiwi vine.
i think i have a pasha male but don’t remember the 3 females names. i grew them from cuttings i got from a member on here. they were Russian names. the male is growing unpruned up my spruce hedge behind my kiwi trellis.
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Maine has classified hardy kiwi a invasive here but not the arctics. they can grow huge and cover whole trees if not pruned heavily. keep that in mind.
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