This year I decided to grow tomatillos for the first time. I LOVE tomatillo salsa and thought it would be a fun garden treat. Though instead of the most frequently seen green tomatillos, I am growing instead purple and pineapple varieties.
Tomatillos require at least two plants in order to produce fruit. So here I am growing nine plants (two pineapple, four purple, and three randoms that I assume are green but I picked them up for free from my Community Garden office) and in a spot in my backyard I am growing four more (one purple and three pineapple).
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| Day of planting: 06/02/13 |
Unless you have space to allow the plants to sprawl all over the ground, you will need to manage some sort of stake system. I'm using wooden stakes and pantyhose as ties.
As this is, like so many others in this garden allotment, an experiment for me, I will consider it a success if I just get a few of each variety to nibble on. But it's no secret that I will JUMP FOR JOY if I grow enough to make salsas and other fun treats!!
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| One week later: 06/09/13 |
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| 06/22/13 |
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| First baby pineapple tomatillo sighting: 06/25/13 |
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| Growing full and healthy: 07/03/13 |
Have you ever grown tomatillos? Do you have any tips for me? Or a favorite recipe to share? Other than salsa, I have no idea what to do with them.
3 comments:
My mom tried growing them one year, they were getting close to producing some serious fruit when something (groundhog, raccoon?) totalled all of our plantings, those included. I'll be anxious to see how yours do!
A yummy gazpacho maybe? I also love tomatillo/green enchilada sauce.
We grew tomatillos our first year and they overtook everything in our garden. They were out of control and we grew WAY too many. I was so sick of tomatillo salsa that we ended up giving most away. We did make fried green tomatoes with them. Not as good as the original, but pretty decent!
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