The Tomatillo

[Meadowlark]

Don’t be fooled by the name. This isn’t a green tomato. No, it is an interesting to grow, very flavorful plant producing distinctive fruit commonly used in Salsa Verde and as flavor enhancers in other dishes. I find it especially good in chili.

They are easy to grow producing an attractive flowering plant from seed that tends to spread out rather than grow upward like tomatoes. Mine tend to be as wide as they are tall…about 4 feet. They are not self-pollinating, so they need a companion(s).

Each plant produces over two pounds of fruit and it can be a bit tricky picking it at the right time…not watermelon tricky but still a little tricky. I like to get them when they fill the husks and the husks begin to split.

Without hesitation, I offer that Salsa Verde is the highest and best use of the fruit…but for some it may be an acquired taste. We love it!

It is fun to grow and fun to eat…but is not a green tomato.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Fruit flavor aside how different are tomatillos and ground-cherries to grow?

 

[Meadowlark]

I can't speak to ground-cherries, but tomatillos are very easy to grow...much easier than tomatoes for example.

They don't have the big, tall and wide spread of tomatoes that can require a good bit of management. Something like 3 ft tall and wide.

So far, they have been virtually pest free...just a very few fruits have been penetrated by some kind of worm/bug.

They seem to respond well to the Epsom salts that I am a proponent of.

Easy to germinate the seed and plant them deep like tomatoes burying 2/3 of the plant. They are not self-fertile, so plant at least two.

Anything else?

 

[Mr_Yan]

They are not self-fertile, so plant at least two.

Well that could explain why I never got fruit on an experiment plant.