cape gooseberries-grow them like tomatoes?

[mrs baggins]

I have my virtual garden all planned!!! shame I have not actually planted anything yet! I saw at the end of a thread that someone mentioned cape goosberries and this got me wondering if they can be ssuccesful grown here. After a bit of a google it seems that they are treated a bit like tomatoes. has anyone tried them and did they fruit succesfully and were as nice as the supermarket ones??

[mrs baggins]

I keep forgetting the bloomin search facility! think I have the answer to my questions and may give it a whirl this year but seems lioke I may be a tad too late sowing the seeds.

[bluemoon]

I grew them last year and you should be OK if you sow them now. I just left them in large pots, watered them when I watered the toms and fed them the same dilute comfrey tea that the toms have and they did really well. Lots of fruit, slightly smaller than the bought ones, but that could have been the variety I was growing. They germinated well, but then stayed at the seed leaf stage for ages before romping away.

[seed addiction]

I agree with bluemoon, you should still be able to sow them now. I sowed mine two weeks ago and decided to grow them in one of my hanging baskets.

[samw04]

i have read somewhere that if you sow late and dont get a good crop then take some cuttings at the end of the year over winter them for a head start next year the same as tomatillos.

[Snadger]

I grew mine from cuttings of another allotment holders plant last year as my seeded ones failed. Had a heck of a crop, in fact there are still some lanterns hanging on the branches. Intend cutting right down soon to force some new growth and take some more cuttings. Cape gooseberry (phsalis edulis) come in two types, a compact small bush and the one that I grow which grows 8 foot tall.
One thing i would say, and i learned this from experience, although they like similar conditions to tomatoes it is best to leave them to there own devices, don't remove side shoots, and whatever you do DON'T feed them. if you do you will finish up with all leaves and NO fruit!
Mine were planted in a large tub with just garden soil, no extra's! They do however love lots of water and if they don't get it they wilt badly!

[southlondongardener]

What do they taste like compared to shop ones ?

[Snadger]

What do they taste like compared to shop ones ?

Never tasted a shop bought cape gooseberry, but the ones I grow have a distictive sweet refreshing taste all of there own!

[wayne]

hi all, i grew them in my greenhouse and outside. they seemed to take a long time to rippen on the plant, the ones in the greenhouse were much better. i think it was too cold outside for them. im sure i still had fruit on them in december and was still trying to flower and pruduce fruit (maybe they were sown a bit late?) but then the cold weather got the better of them. my mom planted the seeds from fruit we tried from the shop. they went down well in fruit salads over christmas

[SimonCole]

I get over 5lb of fruit per bush, bigger than 50p coins, and before any one says tomatillo, they were p.edulis! All ripe. My advide is grow in the soil... in full sun.

[southlondongardener]

Simon,

Where did you get the seed from ?

[SimonCole]

Sutton's. The difference is that I tend to leave them to their own devices. Last year we had too much rain for most things and disease was rife. The beauty of cape goosegogs is that they seem to suffer from relatively little because they have no history of growing here. They out-compete most weeds and do best when untrained. You'd have been amazed at the quantities; come winter the allotment was covered an inch deep in husks.

[jeannine]

You can get seeds of big juicy Cape Gooseberries from Chilterns. I had 100% success rate with germinating mine this year, think I'll get lots more seeds from Chilterns in the future.

If you plant seeds now, chances are they will romp away and catch up with early sowings anyway. Best of luck with them!

I think they are delicious and for some reason home-grown Cape gooseberries always seem to impress people if you have them round for dinner.

[Snadger]

I think they are delicious and for some reason home-grown Cape gooseberries always seem to impress people if you have them round for dinner.

Aren't you supposed to peel the lanterns back and use the stalk to dip them in one of those chocolate fountains? Sounds nice but never tried them coated with chocolate!

[jeannine]

Thats a most cunning idea! I've never tried them dipped in melted chocolate, but I love doing that with strawberries so I'll give it a go this year.