Fruit Seeds: Melons, Strawberries and Garden Oddities

Biggest mix-up on this page: fruit seeds are not fruit tree seeds. There's no apple, pear, cherry or plum sapling hiding in these packets, and we don't stock any. What you get is fruiting vines and soft fruit you sow in spring, prick out once, and eat the same year, plus two that play a longer game.

One Summer for Melons, Years for Kiwi

Sow Watermelon 'Crimson Sweet' seeds or Melon 'Charentais' in March or April and you're cutting fruit from July onwards. Same story for the Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia), which tends to be ready around October, and for Ground Cherry seeds (Physalis peruviana), whose sweet berries sit in a dry papery husk and drop off when they're ripe. Kiwi (Actinidia deliciosa) is the honest exception. Seeds sprout on a damp paper towel inside a fortnight, but the vine needs training, support and roughly four to six years before it fruits. Strawberries land in between, with a first proper pick in year one or two. Kiwi & strawberry are the only perennials on this shelf.

Under Glass First, Then Full Sun

Nearly everything here wants warmth to get moving. Start seeds under glass from February to May, in a greenhouse, a heated mini greenhouse or propagator, or on a bright windowsill, and hold a germination temperature 20-25C while they come up. Coco or peat pots keep root disturbance down, a pre-soak softens the harder cucurbit seed coats, and free drainage matters more than watering often, so keep the compost damp but never soggy. Prick seedlings into their own pots once they show a couple of true leaves, harden them off, and move them outdoors only when the frosts are finished. Muskmelon 'Oranje Ananas' seeds are the relaxed option, sown straight outside after the last frost in full sun, spaced about 30cm apart and thinned once the seedlings appear. Check the packing date & germination rate on the packet before you sow.

Melons, Strawberries and the Odd Ones Out

Melons and cucumbers

Charentais for perfume, Crimson Sweet for the classic slab of red, Oranje Ananas for something you smell before you cut it, and the Lemon Apple Cucumber seeds (Cucumis sativus), round, pale and crisp, raised under glass. Watermelon takes more nerve, so we'd pick Melon 'Charentais' over Watermelon 'Crimson Sweet' for a first summer.

Strawberries

Alpine Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) in red, the same plant in Yellow Cream with a paler, almost buttery fruit, and Grandian Strawberry F1 (Fragaria x ananassa) for big plump berries. Resow the F1 every year.

The curiosities

Kiwano seeds (Cucumis metuliferus) give you a spiky shell and a sweet inside somewhere between lemon and banana. Momordica charantia, the bitter gourd, is exactly as bitter as the name says, and better cooked with fish or meat than eaten raw. Melon Pear (Solanum muricatum), the pepino, is a South American shrub with fruit picked once purple streaks show.

Pot on the Patio or a Bed in the Ground

Melons and watermelon are greedy. They want open ground or a big container, rich soil and all the sun going. Alpine strawberries and Physalis peruviana are happy in pots, window boxes or a raised bed, and the pepino does well in a large tub you can shift to the warmest corner. Watch out for young fruit that swells and then rots off, usually a pollination problem when insects can't get to flowers under glass. Dab pollen between the male and female melon flowers with a soft brush in the morning and that normally sorts it. Still deciding? The Fruit Seed Pack from Zammi's Farm holds watermelon, kiwi, both strawberries, ground cherry, kiwano and melon pear, which is a full season of sowing in one box.