I'm going to try ground cherries in my garden for the first time this year. I became interested in them after Joan Dye Gussow raved about them in "This Organic Life". My Dad mentioned that his grandmother used to grow them on her homestead near Brainerd, Minnesota in the 1950's. He said they make a great pie. I found them in catalogs from Jung's and Baker Creek, so the adventure begins!

The little bit of literature I have found says they should be grown like tomatoes. My question to you is: does one start the seeds indoors much like tomatoes, or are they a direct-seeded plant?

Any advice you can give, as well as some of your favorite uses for this interesting plant would be appreciated!

Walleye, ground cherries are very easy to grow. They are much like cherry tomatoes--once you have them, you always have them. They come back volunteer every year. They are a bush-type thing, get up to 3 feet high and are very self-supporting (don't need cages, etc). They are great in pies, esp. mixed with rhubarb or gooseberries. You can also make jam. As I recall, I got plants the first year, but I think direct seeding would work since they volunteer so easily. You could certainly start the seeds indoors and set out about the time you would tomatoes.

As a child I remember always having them. We would find my little brother sitting under the bushes eating them. Mom got purturbed at him, but heck, he was only 3 or 4 at the time. Kind of cute to think of now.

They grow in a husk which turns brown and falls to the ground. That's when you know they are ripe. Don't let them lay on the ground, daily picking up a necessity, since they tend to attract little tiny wormy things that burrow into the husk at the stem site. They taste nothing like a tomato. Very sweet.

But just be aware, following years you will have them literally EVERYWHERE!

Wish you luck and hope you like them, just start out with about six plants, you will have plenty of picking up to do!

We always had them when I was growing up too. They naturalize very easlily so I don't remember ever planting them, they were always there. As Mumsy said, they are very tastey, excellent in pies or just popping into your mouth.

I've grown them too. They are uppose to be native to the united states. After looking around in the wild and not finding them I frew some. They can be started indoors which is what I did. As the summer went by guess what i found growing around the garden??? Gtound cherries that came up on there own!!! They are very tastey and do make good perserves and are great in salads!!! My kids loved them too.

Do you think I could grow them in zone5-5a.How on is the growing season?Ours is shorter than yours in the states.They sound very interesting,I think I's like to give them a whirl.
mavis

I don't know. If you grow tomatoes you could most likely grow them. 70 days

Yup. I planted them on purpose two years ago, starting them indoors and everything. Last year, I was weeding them out of the garden. They weren't as prolific as other people here say they are, but probably because I religiously scrounged around for the fallen fruits.

They didn't do as well last year because the summer wasn't quite as hot as the year before, but they were still good. I got my seeds from http://www.terraedibles.ca, in case you wanted to check them out. They're really tasty -- just get 'em when they're deep yellow. They look like tomatillos, but shorter, and you don't have to wash them in soap and water to remove the sticky stuff from the fruit before eating them.

Lordy, if you wanted to, you could drop by my house around mid-June and I'll save some of the weedlings!

They grow wild here in NC. A native cousin to the tomatillo, I guess. At least that's the way I use them, mostly in salsa. I don't ever grow them because they grow everywhere here.

LOL -- that could work out!

We'll be in Thunder Bay, then up toward Armstrong about mid-June.

I'm sure you are "right on the way" and my wife would love to stop and get a bunch of "weedlings"!

Don't think we'd have any trouble getting them back through customs....

When I read the Little House on the Praire books to my kids ground cherries were mentioned in there and I never knew what they were. I still don't think I've ever seen them. But if they're native I want to try them!

Someone said here that they don't taste like tomatoes. Is that true? Are they the same texture as tomatoes?

I THINK I tried one at the Farmer's Market last year, and I really didn't like it. Then again, I do NOT like raw tomatoes either -- both their texture and flavor.

Can someone answer about the taste? I'm always willing to try something new (both eating and growing), but I'd rather not undertake the effort if they are too much like tomatoes.

Linda

In my opinion, they taste nothing like tomatoes.

Sort of a small, sweet yellow/white berry. Marble-sized.

Lots of people think they taste the most like strawberries.

Trudy,

I've read those Little House books several times each and I don't remember the ground cherries mentioned. But I have no doubt they are in there and now I absolutely have to find out where! It's going to bug me until I find out. Do you have any idea off the top of your head which book might have contained the reference?

I never heard of them. I wonder why they call them cherries if they grow like a tomato, are yellow/white and taste like strawberries. Maybe someone would like to trade me some seeds?

owl

Ground cherries have a distinct flavor all their own, I don't know what to compare it to, other than when they are golden yellow they are very sweet. Nothing at all like a tomato.

Don't try just one, eat several as the taste can vary depending on the ripeness.

I planted them 12 years ago and still have some plants poking up here and there. The rest of the family doesn't care for them so I got rid of them.

Here's a bit of info:

http://www.lnps.org/art/Physalis.htm