Unusual Fruits Seed Collection

Three fruits you will rarely find in the shops, all compact enough for a patio or a small greenhouse, packed in a gift box for the gardener who has grown everything else. Alpine strawberry 'Baron Solemacher' gives small, intensely perfumed berries from early summer into autumn. Petit Gris de Rennes is a sweet, orange-fleshed French heirloom melon that ripens early enough for a UK summer under glass. Cape gooseberry hides sweet-sharp golden berries inside papery lanterns. All three are open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties.

Sowing and growing

• Alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca): sow on the surface indoors February to April at about 20°C; germination 2 to 4 weeks. Hardy perennial, about 15 to 20 cm tall, fruiting June to October.
• Melon 'Petit Gris de Rennes' (Cucumis melo): sow indoors mid April to May at 20 to 25°C, 2 cm deep; germination 5 to 10 days. Tender annual, best in a greenhouse or cold frame, harvest August to September.
• Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana): sow indoors February to April at about 20°C, 5 mm deep; germination 1 to 3 weeks. Frost tender and grown as an annual, about 70 cm to 1 m tall, fruiting August to October. Eat only fully ripe fruit: unripe berries and the leaves are not edible.

What you receive: a Piccolo Seeds gift box holding three seed packets, Alpine Strawberry 'Baron von Solemacher', Melon 'Petit Gris de Rennes' and Cape Gooseberry, with growing tips and recipes inside.

Browse our full range of fruit, vegetable and flower seeds, find more ideas in our gifts for gardeners, or explore unusual crops among our exotic edibles.