You'll want to give the seeds and seedlings the same care as if you were growing tomatoes. Plenty of light for the seedlings, not too much water (they hate being waterlogged), also - cool temperatures (both soil and air) will reduce their growth.

Mike I'm growing these for the first time, Physalis peruviana, and I have had a tremendous amount of advice on the New Zealand forum about growing them. I originally got the seed from my aunt in N.Z. and I'm pretty sure she told me that you squish the berry onto a paper towel, spread it out very thinly and let them dry. Then flick them carefully off of the paper towel. I was going to try a coffee filter as I think it wouldn't 'absorb' the seed so much. You might want to ask the question on my thread in the NZ forum and see what the response would be. Apparently, they grow like weeds there. Hope my friend Vetivert8 can help us because this was going to be my next question, too. Shauna Here is a link that might be useful: Cape gooseberries thread - NZ forum

SUCCESS!!!!! After my second try, and a very hot summer, I am now seeing the fruits of this wonderful labour. And, what a wonderful fruit. I've got about 8 or 10 berries, so far, but there are many, many, many more to come. If we can hold out 2 more weeks, I should get at least a pie and a bit of jam. They are soooooo good. One of my sons tried one yesterday and thought it a bit on the sour side, but I'm finding them really nice. They are forecasting a bit of cooler weather for this weekend, with the possibility of snow. That's really early for us. It will be such a shame if we get an early killing frost. It is supposed to get really warm again after this cool spell. The weather has been so hot this year with many, many days above 30C. Summer 2005 only had a couple of those really hot days. Definitely, this year, I will be covering the gooseberries with my frost blanket. I was away for 2 1/2 weeks in late August and my tomatoes have bushed out of control. Not sure how many I'll get but I have to find them first. All in all, it's been a good summer with lots of learning going on this year. Hope all in kiwi country is going well. Thanks for all of the help in getting me familiarized with a new yearly "must have". BTW, you were absolutely right about the pansies. I'm not sure I ever want to see another one. Although, my self seeded space was very pretty and fragrant, it became a nightmare of pansies everywhere throughout my garden. I am going to be pulling for years to come. LOL Shauna

I've grown both types of physalis from seed. The edible one was fine when I kept it on a sheltered staircase, but a later one in a greenhouse got really bad mould (botrytis?) and had to be put out of its misery. It gets very big and needs something it can scramble up/be tied up to. I never pinched it out, but didn't have huge amount of fruit on it. The berries have a tendency to split open, so it probably needs very regular watering. I've grown ornamental p. (Chinese Lanterns) this year; most of them got slugged as soon as I planted them out. The edible Cape Gooseberry had fairly light green leaves, slightly fuzzy - whereas the ornamental one is darker and glossy. Please forgive the complete absence of gardening jargon; I'm sure there is a technical term for 'fuzzy' leaf...