Topic: Tomatillos

[realfood]

I have now written up my experience with growing tomatillos last year. Not quite as easy as tomatoes, but worth growing if you have the space.
They are extremely floriferous but there was a problem getting them to fruit at first. It seems that you need at least two plants, with a high enough temperature and there is ready access for insects, especially hover flies which go wild for them. Hand pollination with a brush or finger does not seem to work, but did I try transferring pollen from one plant to another? I will need to try again this year.  Apparently, Tomatillos are self-incompatible and all plants are hybrids.
I was surprised how well tomatillos stored. Due to the protection of the sticky, waxy coating to the fruit itself and the surrounding papery husk, tomatillos will store in perfect condition for at least 5 months on a windowsill.
For more details and photos see http://www.growyourown.info/page172.html

[amphibian]

Surprised you had any issues with pollination, I always get more fruit that I can begin to cope with, fropm just two plants, I grow the outdoors with no protection and let them get on with it. They're thugs really. I give them to a Mexican lady I work with, by the bag load, and still have more left over than we can use.

[GodfreyRob]

Surprised you had any issues with pollination, I always get more fruit that I can begin to cope with, fropm just two plants, I grow the outdoors with no protection and let them get on with it. They're thugs really. I give them to a Mexican lady I work with, by the bag load, and still have more left over than we can use.

Got to agree - give them a bit of space and they will flourish. I think they are more useful and reliable than tomatoes as they don't get the dreaded blight.

[realfood]

As I am in Glasgow, I grew them in the greenhouse. I suspect that they would struggle a bit outside here, but I will try one outside this year and see how it does.
I was expecting them to be easy to pollinate inside just like tomatoes, a flick of the back of the hand, but it did not work although there seemed to be plenty of pollen.

[campanula]

they were horrible, I thought. Bland, hard and nasty. I am not going to do any zone pushing this year (Okra, melons, aubergines etc) it is just pointless when we can grow so much good stuff - why struggle to grow plum tomatoes when we can grow Sungold. Why bother with melons when we have strawberries? This has been a long hard lesson with many, many failures. It just isn't nice, making our poor tropical plants shiver through a wet and cold English winter.

[Jayb]

I often grow them in a polytunnel, pollination has not been much of a problem, but then the doors are open spring and summer with lots of creatures good and bad flying in and out.

I was not sure about the taste the first time  I tried one, but now I really like them. I find them really easy plants, although I agree they are thugs and need space. Delish in a salsa with a little chili, lime, onion and coriander.

[Vinlander]

they were horrible, I thought. Bland, hard and nasty. I am not going to do any zone pushing this year (Okra, melons, aubergines etc) it is just pointless when we can grow so much good stuff - why struggle to grow plum tomatoes when we can grow Sungold. Why bother with melons when we have strawberries? This has been a long hard lesson with many, many failures. It just isn't nice, making our poor tropical plants shiver through a wet and cold English winter.

Hi Realfood,

I couldn't agree more about Sungold - and Gardeners' Delight and Green Tiger - they are all different and all better than any plum.

I agree double that on melons - this is one of those rare fruits that is difficult at home but actually suits commercial growing, distribution, and tastes great from the shop! Especially 'ananas' melons from Cyprus.

However I do think it is worth trying stuff - it's just about pushing the envelope in a sensible direction...

I may re-try okra when I've got a polytunnel, but I've always had good results from aubergines both outside and under glass - excepting the last 3 rubbish summers...at least in the SE where I am.

As to tomatillos - they aren't great except for salsas (where I can take or leave them) but the real star of that genus is the ground cherry - slightly lighter taste than a cape gooseberry (which can be overpowering) - sort of a little more like a fruit than Sungold, immune to blight - easy, sweet, great crop - have you tried them?

Cheers.

[jennym]

Grew tomatillos here for a few years, they grew easily outside,and gave good crops provoding they were started off early, but was finding that they weren't that popular after the novelty value had worn off, and need the space for other things so won't be growing them again this year.
Will probably grow some cape gooseberry, which are just as easy, just for the smaller kids who come in to look at the garden,  because they'll hang ripe on the plant for quaite a while, giving a long picking window.

[realfood]

Vinlander, the name ground cherry seems to cover quite a few different plants. Are you referring to Physalis pruinosa? The closest that I have grown was the dwarf form of cape gooseberry, peruviana which I enjoyed.

[George the Pigman]

I have grown tomatillos for many years on my allotment and had no problems with pollination or anything else. I usually have more than I need. The only problem I encountered was that tehe fruits end up on the ground sometimes and the slugs eat them. I have a cracking recipe for a sweet tomatillo chutney if anyone wants it!
I have grown cape gooseberries in the greenhouse for many years and apart from the fact they straggle everywhere had no problems. I used the "dwarf" form of Physalis as sold by Marshalls (they don't give a species name). From Nickies seeds I have just bought a dwarf cape gooseberry but this species type is prunosa. So I am bit confused about which type Marshall was and what I will end up with!

[Vinlander]

Vinlander, the name ground cherry seems to cover quite a few different plants. Are you referring to Physalis pruinosa? The closest that I have grown was the dwarf form of cape gooseberry, peruviana which I enjoyed.

Yes it is most often called Physalis pruinosa but I've also seen another species name against seed where the picture and description looked identical.

The basic cape gooseberry is fighting a tendency to be a perennial - I haven't looked for any early varieties as the fruit have an almost oily headiness - I can only eat a few a day.

Ground cherry has a light and addictive taste, is 100% annual and very early.

My laziness often takes advantage of this to the point where I'm sowing them in June and still getting a decent crop - not that I'd recommend it - didn't work in 2008.

Cheers.

PS. I read somewhere that a noted gardening writer was visiting from the US some years ago and was very impressed with the range of veg in our plots and potagers. However he couldn't understand why so many enthusiasts grew so many obscure and specialist veg but nobody was growing ground cherry...

[Jayb]

Intresting how tastes differ, I love Cape gooseberry and find them really sweet and tangy, I can eat them by the handful. Where as Ground cherry (the dwarf annual type) I'm not very keen on, sweet but no bite.