Tuesday 29 April 2014

Inca Berry Trial

Monday was a brilliant spring day with lots of sunshine and a temperature of 18.5°C in the afternoon. It’s just a pity that some colder nights are forecast for the weekend with the possibility of frosts. At the moment that threat seems to be limited to Friday and Saturday night with night time temperatures recovering after the weekend.

This year we are experimenting with Inca Berries which we came across from James Wong’s Homegrown Revolution.
So far they are living up to their “easy to grow” tag. They were sown on 7 April and placed under our indoor grow light. Germination took 9 days and since then they've grown into sturdy looking seedlings. Monday was the day they took their first step into the outside world moving from the luxury of the indoor growlight to the perils of our outdoor greenhouse.
This tray of 15 Inca Berry plants will be left to grow on in the greenhouse before moving to the cold frame and eventually the allotment plot. They should only be planted outside once there is no risk of a frost. They like a sunny spot with good drainage. All we have to do then is harvest the berries, probably in September. Each berry comes wrapped in its own Chinese lantern.

4 comments:

  1. They sound a bit like physallis, having their own paper lantern. I'm trying tomatilloes this year, as recommended by James Wong. It's nice to try new things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think we tried tomatilloes a few years ago. Given plants by a plot neighbour - not sure we grew them correctly. Might try them again depending on how you find them.

      Delete
  2. It's good to try growing something new. I don't know anything about Inca Berries so I shall look forward to hearing more about them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nor do I Jo so the results might be interesting. Well drained conditions might be a problem for us - we'll see.

      Delete

Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment - it is great to know that there are people out there actually reading what I write! Come back soon.
(By the way any comments just to promote a commercial site, or any comments not directly linked to the theme of my blog, will be deleted as soon as I spot them) Please do not follow links from any comments that appear to be spam - if in doubt ignore.