Growing fruit from seed
Not all fruit grows from seed — tree and bush fruit is bought as plants. But a whole group does beautifully from a packet: strawberries, melons, watermelons, cape gooseberries, tomatillos and rhubarb. Many of them crop in their very first summer.
Tender or hardy?
Type | Character | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Tender, warm-season | Start indoors, plant out only after frost, wants a warm sunny spot | Melon, watermelon, cape gooseberry, tomatillo |
Hardy, perennial | Sow once, crop for years | Strawberry, alpine strawberry, rhubarb |
Sowing
Fruit wants it warmer than vegetables or flowers: 20–24 °C. Sow melon (Cucumis melo), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) indoors from March, in a heated propagator or on a warm windowsill.
Strawberries (Fragaria) are sown indoors from February. Their seed is very fine: press it onto the surface and barely cover it, since a little light aids germination.
Germination takes 1 to 4 weeks and is more variable than with vegetables. Strawberries and cape gooseberries in particular may take three to four weeks — give them that long before concluding something is wrong.
Easy to begin with
- Alpine strawberry — compact, pretty and quick to fruit, often in its first summer
- Cape gooseberry — easy, prolific and wrapped in papery lanterns
- Melon — surprisingly simple in a warm, sunny spot or greenhouse
- Watermelon — give it heat and space and it rewards you generously
- Tomatillo — vigorous and productive, with a tangy, salsa-ready fruit
Where
Fruit needs at least six hours of sun plus rich, free-draining soil. Sun is what builds the sweetness.
In pots on a sunny balcony or patio, strawberries and cape gooseberries crop happily. Melons and watermelons want a warm bed or a greenhouse, with room to ramble and a long, sunny season to ripen.
Care
Factor | What to do |
|---|---|
Light | six hours of sun or more to ripen |
Water | deep and regular as the fruits swell |
Feed | high-potash feed once flowering starts |
Protect | net ripening fruit against birds |
Uneven watering causes splitting. Switch to a high-potash feed — the kind used for tomatoes — once plants start flowering, to encourage plenty of fruit.
Harvesting
Let fruit ripen fully on the plant for the best flavour. A melon is ready when it smells fragrant and slips from the vine. Strawberries and cape gooseberries are best picked when fully coloured — with cape gooseberry, the lantern turns straw-coloured.
Pick little and often once they start, and keep watering to the end of the season.
Common mistakes
- Sowing tender fruit too early. Melons need real warmth.
- Burying fine seed. Strawberry seed needs light and barely any covering.
- Giving up too soon. Some kinds take three to four weeks.
- Too little sun. Without heat and light fruit will not ripen sweet.
Rhubarb is the odd one out: hardy, perennial, and best harvested from its second year.
See Sowing calendar: flowers, herbs and fruit for the month table, and all fruit seeds for the range.
The full version of this guide is on seedschoice.com.
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Updated on: 05/10/2026
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