g'day, we've grown the cape gooseberry (ground cherry in the US) over here there is a variety that is all but a native species not in weed proportions but can be found growing in the wild. the best time for picking and eating is after they fall from the bush, and the taste can be somewhat acquired they can taste almost sweet and still have a little tartness as well, my grandchildren love them so they can't be too bad hey? i'll try and find out the common species over here might be it will grow where you are? len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Thank you Chatanoogachoochoo and thanks for the other trade too.

I won't pester you guys anymore after this post but wanted to tell you I tasted my first ever ground cherry (from an Aunt Molly's plant) and it was very good. It did have a bit of a citris tingle and a bit of a pineapple taste but I'd have to say it is unique in the taste department. It was sweet tasting and I didn't notice an after taste. I think it has a taste kids would go for. I also think this plant would be ideal for children to watch grow and then to harvest the cherries after they've fallen from the plant. Peeling the little paper like covering off of the cherry would be something young children would enjoy doing. The fruits are very small, so it would take a lot to make a pie. However, the plant sets a lot of little fruits so if you had the space to grow several plants, that would make a big difference. I remember reading that some growers felt they could harvest 300 or so from one plant and after watching this one grow and set fruit, I don't doubt it. My little plant is growing in a pot. I don't know if growing it in ground would cause the fruits to be bigger. I have very limited sunlight hence the pot, so I could move it around. My original thought was to try and grow it in my small greenhouse, thinking it would enjoy the heat but I don't know how hot the house will get when the daytime temps climb. I do have a shade cloth over the house and it does get some limited shade until about noon. Of course, afternoons are the hot time of the day so I'm skeptical about being able to grow them in there during the summer. Might try just for the lesson learned. I hope you all have great success with your Ground Cherries this summer. Mary

Yes, stir fry. They add a nice tang to the meal. When I tell my wife that I'm going to keep a dozen plants, she says, "Are you sure that's enough?!" It helps that they are long keepers, and that, without refrigeration. On a side note, I've been hearing about "guerrilla gardening," in which people in urban or suburban settings plant edibles on vacant land, and later return for some of the harvest. The tomatillo, lambs quarters and Sunchoke, are ideal for this kind of application. With tomatillos, if someone grows them in the garden, all they'd have to do is pick up some that get bug eaten, etc. and toss them into that vacant field. Next spring... Presto! "wild tomatillos!" Actually, when we first lived in Mexico, out in the sierra, that is precisely how I was told that the rural/indigenous cultivated them. They simply weeded out the ones which got in the way. But the others, they let live and produce. If a field didn't have them, they tossed a few out there for next spring. George