Physalis Seedlings

In behind this mesh lies maybe a hundred physalis seeds, maybe more.  When the little fruit pods of the physalis dry out they leave a skeletal lantern behind and all the seeds stay safely tucked away inside.  It's just as well because we left them lying around in the green house over the winter, not paying them much attention until one day Chris decided to open up a lantern and plant some seeds. He simply scattered them in a little tray of potting compost and covered them with some more potting compost.  A few weeks later one little seedling started to  stretch up out of the soil. In the next couple of days lots more followed suit and suddenly there were about 40 seedlings in the tray.  Now there seems to be about 100!  I'm hoping to pot all of these on and see if I can swap them for other plants with some people.  If you live in Ireland and want some physalis plants them drop me an email and you can come and collect some.  I live in Limerick City and would love to swap any kind of fruiting plant for some of these.  I've a feeling they won't fruit in their first year but they will definitely do well in their second year if put into a large pot and kept indoors during the winter.  We're still learning about them and it would be great if other people experimented with them in different types of pots, in polytunnels, on balconies or whatever your growing conditions are.   If anyone from overseas would like to swap some seeds then  please get in touch.   I'm dying to experiment with all sorts of fruit but it can be hard to know where to get either the seeds or the  mature plants.    I'm sure there are some  interesting fruits out there that I've never even heard of and that might grow well in our temperate climate.   In fact now that I've thought of it a seed exchange would be a great idea...mmmm.  I'll have to give that some thought.   

Back to the physalis seedlings.  Some of the m got attack by slugs and were completely killed so I scattered some seaweed meal around the little plants.  This salty granular seaweed  deters slugs  as long as it stays dry.  They won't venture on to it a s the salt would harm them  and so they turn back.  And the trace minerals in the seaweed  are good for most plants as far as I can tell. I'll be keepin g them under close scrutiny  for the next few weeks  to make sure a good number of them make it to the next stage....being planted into little pots.