Topic: cape gooseberry

[Kerry]

wondering if anyone has grown cape gooseberry this year and what their experiences were.
my plants grew large and flowered, but rather too late to ripen the fruit. i ended up with lots of 'lanterns', but all fruit very green, bar 3!
i'm wondering whether to grow them in the greenhouse next year, whether this will help get more ripe fruit.
any thoughts?

[Mrs Ava]

Had a tub full in the greenhouse and picked a nice big bowl full of ripe fruits, altho only really enough for me to scoff and some for a rather devine fruit salad.  The couple in the garden are currently in flower and have small lanterns on, so look pretty, but they aren't going to ever ripen.  I will grow them again in the greenhouse as I love the acidity and tartness of the berries, and I think I will start them earlier,at the same time as my toms, and treat them the same, see if that helps.

[cleo]

Nothing to add-apart from to say that you grow `tomatillos` the same way(same family). I grow them for a friend and actually like them mysel
f now.

Stephan

[Kerry]

thanks EJ and Stephan.
i think i will try them in the greenhouse next year. i do love their tanginess. and sow in february i think.

tomatillos, now i have been tempted by these. very similar looking-but not sweet? am i right?

[Mrs Ava]

Tomatillos are more of a savoury than sweet, similar to tomatos.  I had a few this year, but the plants got terribly sunburnt whilst we were on our hols so they didn't do as well as they should.  However, I used them in my River Cottage chuntey which is delsih!

[Columbus]

I haven`t really worked out the relationship between cape gooseberries and tomatillos - I think they are cousins in a big family.

I got more tomatillos than i could use from three plants but they didn`t make much fruit until they grew out of the top of the "green house" and the bees could get to them more easily. They went from dark green and sour to pale green with a taste like apples. For a while the fruit was falling like conkers. They are like marbles in my freezer now. I left the bushes in the ground to see how they cope with frost. The remaining fruit is mostly split and attracts snails.
My tomatoes got blight but the tomatillos didn`t.
I saved seed but i don`t know yet wether its fertile, next year i`ll try to start plants early then grow them outdoors.

Col.

addendum: My Tomatillo bushes withered in the first frost, so I guess that means they aren`t hardy at all.
I think next year I will start them under cover then move them outside so the bees can do their thing and the bushes will have more space.