Can you grow Kiwi in the UK

[veggiechicken]

Kiwi berry may be less pushy than the standard sized kiwi which I had/have. Its still there, pushing its way out from under a greenhouse.
I have a young kiwi berry too, but its a long way away from the house - and that's the way I like it!

[TrixC]

I've been desperate to get a kiwi berry vine but this thread is making me worry! I was going to plant it in a foot-squared brick lined hole in the patio by the wall of my house. It will be under the kitchen window so I can't let it get too high. I wanted to let it climb on an old wrought iron gate hooked onto the wall.

Is this all a bad idea? Will it tolerate being kept quite small to fit the space? Will the roots escape the hole and end up pushing through the expensive rubber surfacing on the (concrete base) patio?

Grateful for any advice!
Thanks

As mentioned earlier in the thread I have a couple of kiwiberries on my allotment, they’re a few years old and so far seem quite well behaved. If you’re planting it in a brick lined hole I imagine that should restrict its vigour too. The main problem with them seems to be that they’re quite vulnerable to late frosts.

[sadowska]

Thanks!

Thanks for the responses. I'll dig out my bit of fleece and keep an eye on the weather until summer then. Gonna stick some weed proof membrane in the planting hole to defend against root spread as well.
I've gone ahead and ordered a plant from eBay - £11 for a 40cm tall plant which seems good value.

[chrisdb]

Thanks for the responses. I'll dig out my bit of fleece and keep an eye on the weather until summer then. Gonna stick some weed proof membrane in the planting hole to defend against root spread as well.
I've gone ahead and ordered a plant from eBay - £11 for a 40cm tall plant which seems good value.

I don't know what you're buying, but I grow actinidia kolomikta on arches in my garden and they're the opposie of vigorous. They've taken 3 years to get 2m up an arch, and they still haven't started growing over the top. At this rate it'll be a decade before they come close to covering it.

I did go for kolomikta because they were supposed to be less vigorous than the arguta hardy kiwis, but this is a bit ridiculous. It might be partly because they start a bit eatly and get set back by frost every year, so I'm thinking about wrapping the arch in fleece this year if we get more hard frosts.