Tomatoes & friends
Ground cherry
Ripe when husks drop and turn tan.
- Indoors
- 6 to 8 wk (late Mar)
- Outside
- Transplant after frost
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July; the dry side of a tomato
- Harvest
- Late Jul to frost
Care
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July and August, about weekly in spring and fall. A long soak at the base until the top few inches are wet, then let it dry before the next. Keep it drier than a tomato likes; a modest ration still sets plenty of fruit.
- Sow
- In cells in late March: 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, keep the stronger. Set plants 18 to 24 inches apart in the bed; each one sprawls low, so give it a bed edge to spill over. Plant deep at transplant.
- Start inside
- Mat at 75 to 85F, sprouts in 7 to 10 days, sometimes up to 14. Under the lights the moment they break ground, 14 to 16 hours. Outside after mid May, once nights hold 50F.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked in at planting carries the bed most of the season. A light feeder like the tomatillo; it asks little, so hold back unless growth stalls.
- Ready
- Never harvest off the plant. Ripe berries fall in their papery husks and go tan where they land; anything you pull while green stays green. Gather from the soil beneath, every day or two, husks left on.
- Trouble
- Flea beetles pepper the young leaves with pinholes: a transplant-sized plant outgrows them without help. The husks keep nearly everything else off the fruit, so it stays low-drama once it is going.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in July and August; bags dry far faster than a bed. 30 to 40 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag; it spills low over the rim, so set it at the edge.
A little fruit in a paper husk that tastes like pineapple met a cherry tomato, gathered off the ground from late July to frost. One plant produces steadily for months and asks almost nothing.
Growing
Same nursery schedule as the tomatoes: indoors in late March, into the garden after May 12. One plant fills a bed corner or a 5 to 7 gallon bag, then pours over the sides; the low sprawl wants an edge it can tumble past. Do not pick from the plant. Ripe fruit drops in its husk and turns tan on the ground, and anything pulled green stays green; a sweep under the plant every day or two is the whole harvest routine. Water on the dry side of the tomato routine; it fruits happily at a moderate ration and takes a missed day or two in stride.
Varieties
Aunt Molly's is the standard and hard to beat; Goldie is nearly identical and runs a touch larger.
Pests
Flea beetles pepper the early leaves with pinholes, but a transplant-sized plant outgrows them without help. The husks keep nearly everything else off the fruit.
In the kitchen
Husked and eaten standing in the garden, mostly. A pint that makes it indoors cooks into a jam closer to apricot than anything a tomato relative should manage.