Pignut

[Toddy]

I HAVE grown them in pots and also grown them on some land - I was just thinking that there would be a more intensive ( is that a nasty word when it comes to plants?? ) way in a more efficient manner and one that would make harvesting a wee of papaya.

You mean like a crop ?
Well the field we excavated was hotching with them....and it was just old farmland (early iron age)

Honestly, they grow so slowly to create the nut that it's not a rapid thing.

I get good crops, but that's relative, it's not like growing spuds, iimmc ?

Best I managed was one of those old Council Green Recycling boxes, that came out long before the coloured wheelie bins. Trial programme kind of thing. I just put decent compost in it, topped it with fine gravel and scattered the seeds.
I got nearly a kg of nuts out of that ...but it was three years later I got them.

 

[TeeDee]

You mean like a crop ?
Well the field we excavated was hotching with them....and it was just old farmland (early iron age)

Honestly, they grow so slowly to create the nut that it's not a rapid thing.

I get good crops, but that's relative, it's not like growing spuds, iimmc ?

Best I managed was one of those old Council Green Recycling boxes, that came out long before the coloured wheelie bins. Trial programme kind of thing. I just put decent compost in it, topped it with fine gravel and scattered the seeds.
I got nearly a kg of nuts out of that ...but it was three years later I got them.

Yes like a crop.
I got a decent crop from seeds I planted the year before - I am however at the pointy warm bit of the land and you are as we know , beyond the great wall with the seal people.

So maybe climate makes a strong difference to growth rates?

 

[Toddy]

I think of them as woodland edge sort of plants, in among the grasses there, the wood millet and the like, but I don't actually know if that's true..... @Broch might know ?

They come up early, they're up now. Not yet flowering here, but the green ferny bits are up.
Might do well near a hedge ? or along your (I think it's you who has the river frontage ?) grassy swathe beside the river ?
The site we excavated in the Lake District was sodden wet, and was sodden wet all year round said the farmer, so being beside water doesn't seem to be an issue.

M

 

[slowworm]

We get swathes of pignuts in our fields, mostly on the edge of the woodland so seem to prefer some shade. The also grow on the woodland paths.

Our soil is poor, acidic and the fields relatively undisturbed, certainly not been used much since we bought the place.

 

[demented dale]

In the woodland here in Ireland there are thousands upon thousands of them. I eat one or two usually when I am showing someone how to 'grub for pig nuts'. They are tasty and one of my fave wild edibles. I had no idea you could grow them yourself. How do you actually get the seed? xx

 

[slowworm]

I just found a good specimen and waited until it flowered, set seed and they changed from green to a light brown. Then cut the stem off before all the seeds fell and put the whole lot into a brown bag to dry before rubbing the seed off and sowing.

If you're worried about identifying the seeds you can tie a piece of light string to the base of the plant when it is in flower.