Cape gooseberry
Physalis peruviana
In a typical UK garden, sow indoors early February to early March, plant out early May to late May, and harvest late July to late October.
When to sow, plant and harvest
Last frost around 20 April, first frost around 31 October.
- Sow indoors
- early February to early March
- Plant out
- early May to late May
- Harvest
- late July to late October
Growing facts
- Spacing
- 60 cm apart, rows 90 cm apart
- Square foot
- 1 per 4 squares (30 cm squares)
- Sowing depth
- 0.5 cm
- Ready in
- 70 to 100 days from planting out
- Grows to
- 1 m
- Hardiness
- Tender: killed by any frost
- Sun
- Full sun
- Crops for
- About 8 weeks
Growing tip
Sow early with gentle heat and grow somewhere warm; fruit is ripe when the husk turns papery and golden.
More nightshades
Where these figures come from
Every crop in VegLog was checked against published growing advice. Dates are worked out from average frost dates, so they shift with your garden. For cape gooseberry, we used:
Grow cape gooseberry with VegLog
Add cape gooseberry to a bed and VegLog reminds you when to sow, plant out and pick, timed to your own town's frost dates.
