A few years ago I had some horseradish in a pot which I left for a few months. Unknown to me this sent a tap root down and out under it, between a crack in the slabs.
Cut to 4 years later and I'm trying to dig the blinking brute out the plot! Oh my goodness doesn't it spread! I think I have most of the roots up (double dug around it) but I shall only keep it in a pot from now on! and one that is raised above the ground!
I do enjoy the heat from horseradish (great with parsnip in a mash) but I'm the only one here who does, so not really worth growing very much of.
Who likes horseradish?
Any tips for keeping it under control?
Sounds like mint which I grow in a big plastic bucket without holes at the bottom, I have the bucket in a nice pot, to look good. I use a bucket as I find them stronger than plastic pots.
ReplyDeleteI use buckets as well for big pots, this plant escaped though.
DeleteF loves horseradish. She read somewhere that for companion planting she should grow it with potatoes. She only did that once. It was an annual return companion for every crop rotated i to that bed.... After that she simply grew it in a corner of the allotment that wasn't used for anything else, where the lawnmower would deal with any attempt to escape.
ReplyDeleteOh no! Not a great companion plant! It's spreads so quickly! I think this might get put in the orchard where I can mow it.
DeletePS she says if you try to dig it out you will find that it 'goes all the way to China'.
ReplyDeleteWe love horseradish but have never grown our own . . . until I planted it in one of our raised beds last spring. Was told not to harvest any root the first year so this coming gardening season will give us our first taste. Now after reading this post of yours, I'm hoping it doesn't take over the whole raised bed I planted it in! ;o)
ReplyDeleteI'd take a look and see if it's spread or not, sounds like some are more prone to it - this one had some shoots coming up a good 4ft away.
DeleteI had a friend at secondary school whose family were trying to eliminate it from their garden. My father's comment was along the lines of "they shouldn't have tried to grow it".
ReplyDeleteHelen
I think he might have been right.
DeleteI have three large clumps. The only one that tries to spread is the one next to an area where I plant something different each year. It keeps invading the freshly disturbed soil because I continually break the outer end of the roots and it sends up new shoots at those points. The clumps with undisturbed soil around them do not spread much even though I dig into the heart of them regularly. Find a place where its surroundings are not disturbed and make sure to break off flower heads before they go to seed. You could also sink a box of boards around it to box it in.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think sinking a box would be a good idea! A bit like growing a fig tree.
DeleteKev, maybe grow it as a stand alone in a separate pot or planter?
ReplyDeleteI do like the heat and (someday) would like to have a go at it (suitably controlled, of course).
This was in a pot but a root escaped! Never again - I'll keep on top it next time - only took a few months for the tap root to find it's way down!
Delete