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UK: Good King Henry and Fat Hen - which is taller?

 
Posts: 60
Location: Wessex
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I'm going to plant Good King Henry and Fat Hen (both recommended in Patrick Whitefield's book How to Make a Forest Garden)

which one grows taller? I want to plant the shorter one on the sunny side of the taller one ...

Cheers,
Paul
 
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Not sure, but they are both annuals - I presume you are planning of letting them self seed in future, so why not just broadcast sow them and let them sort it out for themselves?
 
out to pasture
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In my experience Good King Henry usually grows taller. Also Fat Hen tends to fall over after it's flowered.

Sings quietly to self 'Good King Henry stands before you, such a royal and regal figure....'
 
Burra Maluca
out to pasture
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Of course, it all depends on how much plant food you give them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilz9WHb0LHE&list=PL2BD89AD299AE493D
 
Paul Ryan
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Thanks people

Good King Henry is perrenial, Fat Hen is annual but self-seeds.

Yes - in future years they will sort it out for themselves ... but this spring will be the first year for them in my garden, so I want to arrange them sensibly to start them off well.

Cheers,
Paul
 
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Is king Henry what we know hear in the UK as goose foot?

I'd love to know what he says in his book about these 2 plants. Please share.
I have a polly tunnle hear in the UK, what I have always found is, that where the fat he grows, so too do my other plants. Where there is no fat hen, my plants struggle. Rational would say the soil is better where all plants grow, and where my plants struggle then there must be poor soil. Maybe. But I'm getting a feeling that the fat hen is at the very least a nitrogen fixer. I swear it's the reason my plants are doing well, especially since I composted the other areas, so they shouldn't be lacking.
 
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I've grown Fat Hen (Chenopodium album) and it got to 1 meter tall.  
 
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