tomatillos

[adrianhumph]

Hi all,  :D,
                I am considering growing tomatillos in my polythene covered greenhouse. Any tips on growing them would be appreciated. Also what do you do with them when they are ripe ???

                                       Adrian.

[adrianhumph]

[gunnerbee]

id love to know too as ive never grown them before, do they have to be grown in a greenhouse?

[flowerlady]

I have never grown them but I think this thread seems to answer a few of your questions

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,9644.0

if not try another search!

[Curryandchips]

I have a few tomatillo plants currently about 2 inches high (4 true leaves). I will be intending to plant them outside after frosts are over. They are indoors at the moment, and will be transferred to the unheated greenhouse when they are too big for my shelf.

[Columbus]

hi all,

There are threads about tomatillos if you`d like to do a search. This will be my third year of growing them. The seed from mature fruit should be good for planting the next year.

You need to have two plants and they need insect pollinators to make fruit. Bees love them. They are not frost hardy so keep them covered for a while. They enjoy tomato food when they get bigger and be prepared to support them because they will get to six foot tall. You don`t need to pinch out side shoots.

Some people have more purpley ones than the variety I grow which ripen to pale green.

I love to grow them as they grow themselves. And they don`t seem to get blight.

Have fun, Col

[agapanthus]

columbus....going  to sow the seed you gave me tomorrow ;D

[Columbus]

Hi all, Hi Agapanthus,

I tried to make this post this morning but the page hung and I see it never arrived. I`m so full of wisdom at 6am but I`ll try to remember what I wrote...

Oh yes, Just plant the brown sticky gloop and the plants will grow as a clump. This is easier than trying to seperate the seeds out of the vegetable mush. You can just pot them on like that and they`ll be fine. They don`t need to be seperated out.

Col

(I know there was more but its been a long day)

[Debs]

I have never grown or tasted tomatillos.

Do they taste similar to tomatoes??


Debs

[Columbus]

Hi Debs,

No they don`t taste like tomatoes.

When they are ripe and straight from the plant mine tasted like a mild cooking apple or a proper english eating apple, slightly sharp but not too much so and with a texture firmer and denser than a tomato more like a golden delicious apple.

If they are not ripe they are the most bitter thing I ever tasted.

They cook well with other veg or can be eaten raw. I`m sure some people have proper salsa recipes. The mexican restaurant close to me uses them.

Col

[jennym]

There are some good salsa recipes using tomatillos on this link:
http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/table_of_contents.cgi?salsa

[adrianhumph]

Hi all,
         Thanks for the tips, & especially to jennym for the recipe link,  ;D It has given me a good idea of what to do with the cartloads of tomatillo`s that I will hopefully get
  ::)
                    Adrian.

[jennym]

Oh yes, and fogot to say you can make a splendid pickle using them too!