Tomatillo?

Anybody ever grow these? Did you start your seed indoor early?We have been making green salsa around here and really enjoy their flavor.

So you did find some?

I found seed and ordered some from Territorial Seed Company out here in Oregon. I do remember now we discussed them over there on recipes. We found we roasted these and then added cilantro, onion, garlic, and little salt and food processed these all together for a great sauce. Thanks for remembering.

No Problem Lenjo,I was waiting for them to come out in the store here to get you some,If you want me to still pick some up for you let me know,here they also sell them as plants.I'd say with your zone8 you could get ready any time,I still have to hold off awhile.

No,rootdoctor, I don't plant veggies till mid May or very early June, we are getting hard frosts these last few nights. Ordinarily we get so much rain and it is only after mid April can we pretty much figure no more frosts. I have seen plants here too but I just wanted to try some seed.

Once you have raised Tomatilloes you will have them forever if you let any of them go to seed. I started raising them a few years ago for some of my friends who are hispanic but have little or no place to raise much garden. The plants get quite large and sprawling for me.

Lenjo,

Seed sowing, transplanting the seedlings to cells, and growing on to outside transplant stage are the same for tomatillos as for tomatoes.

Just make sure you put out at least two plants or you won't get fruit unless someone else in the neighborhood is growing them. And as mentioned above, they do self sow with abandon. Best to harvest them a wee bit underripe and ripen them inside, rather than to have the berries drop, rot and seeds self sow the next year.

Carolyn

I grew them last year & loved the taste. I had enough to take to work & share with my boss (he's going to grow his own this year!). My only complaint is that they kept dropping on the ground & I got tired of crawling around the garden on my hands & knees trying to pick them all up.
This year I will grow them in containers on my brick patio. The ones that fall will be collected using a broom.

Just make sure you put out at least two plants or you won't get fruit unless someone else in the neighborhood is growing them. >>

Well finally the answer to the question Dad and I've been asking. He asked me to grow tomatillo for him last year but "I don't need but one plant Chris". Okay so that's what I did. LOL. I've grown them myself many times but I always had more than one plant. Never new they needed a pollinator

Chris

Leaflady,

Hi, I just got some pinapple tomatillo seeds, best I grow them up the side of a fence so that they can sprall all over the place? Plant 2 huh.... If I have 2 varieties, plant 2 of each. Wow, maybe in the back of the house. Are the seeds like those pesky morning glories? Don't want them in my regular garden plot if so. But I have to grow them, they are just too yummy.

For two varieties, I personally w*ould try to plant the two of ONE variety in one area, and the two of the other variety somewhere else...like front and back yards, or left and right side yards....

Unless you're saving seeds AND there's a propensity to cross pollinate, I don't think there's any reason to isolate the varieties - the fruit borne this year won't be affected even if cross-pollination is probable :)

Lenjo I had some I started two years ago and you have to give them plenty of room, the plant grows so fast that it hard to contain them in a cage.

I am growing these for the first time, I can't believe how fast they are growing. Outpacing the tomatoes! I have them in the same patch as the tomatoes. I have two side by side. I hope I grow lots of Tomatillos for salsa this year!

It surely will and believe me before the summer is over you'll have more than you will know what to do with. I think you could even supply your whole neighborhood and still have enough for youself.
Just try to keep them off the ground or you'll have a lot of them filled with bug holes plus they tend to rotten when left on the ground, one more thing don't pick them until the hull around them starts to peal that's when they are ripe even though they are still green.