Tomatoes & friends
Tomatillo
Plant 2+; self-incompatible.
- Indoors
- 6 to 8 wk (late Mar)
- Outside
- Transplant after frost
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July; easygoing once established
- Harvest
- Aug to Oct, husk splits
Care
- Water
- Every 3 to 4 days in July and August, about weekly in spring and fall. A long soak at the base until the top few inches are wet, then let it dry before the next. Keep it even while young; once established it forgives the dry spells that would cost a tomato its fruit.
- Sow
- In cells in late March: 2 seeds a quarter inch deep per cell, keep the stronger. Always plant two or more, since one alone will bloom for months and set nothing. Set them 24 to 36 inches apart in the bed, planted deep for extra rooting.
- Start inside
- Mat at 75 to 85F, sprouts in 7 to 10 days, a touch slower than tomato. Under the lights the moment they break ground, 14 to 16 hours. Outside after mid May, once nights hold 50F.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked in at planting carries the bed most of the season. A lighter feeder than a tomato, so hold off on more and give a light feed only if growth stalls.
- Ready
- Pick when the papery husk has split and the berry swells to fill it, or slightly early while firm and bright green. The ripe ones fall by themselves, and any collected off the ground are fine too.
- Trouble
- Flowers but no fruit: a lone plant is self-incompatible, so grow two or more. Three-lined potato beetle in June: hand-pick the adults and rub out the egg rows under the leaves; the larvae wear their own droppings as a disguise.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 7–10 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in July and August; bags dry far faster than a bed. 45 to 60 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One plant per bag, and grow at least two bags so they can cross-pollinate.
Tomatillos sprawl, shrug off neglect, and load up with salsa verde makings from August to October. The one rule is two plants minimum, because a lone tomatillo flowers all summer and sets nothing.
Growing
Start alongside the tomatoes in late March and transplant after frost, always two or more so they can pollinate each other. Give each a corner of ground, or a 7 to 10 gallon bag, and expect a five-foot sprawl; a tomato cage delays the flop but nothing prevents it. It shrugs off the hot, dry weeks that make the tomatoes sulk. Harvest when the husk splits and the fruit fills it; ripe ones drop on their own, and fruit picked up off the ground is fine.
Varieties
Toma Verde is the early standard; Gigante fills the salsa pot faster; Purple is sweeter and good raw.
Pests
The three-lined potato beetle, which looks like a cucumber beetle that developed a taste for tomatillos, arrives in June; hand-pick adults and rub out the egg rows under leaves. The larvae carry their own droppings on their backs as a disguise, which makes them easy to find and unpleasant to squish. Gloves help.
In the kitchen
Husked, rinsed of their stickiness, broiled dark with onion and jalapeno, then blitzed: salsa verde. It freezes without complaint, so August surplus becomes January enchiladas.