Tomatillos, Physalis

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Night-time temperatures the last week have been about 32. We had about 6" of snow over a couple of days, which just melted this morning.

So this afternoon I took a mud tour of the garden.... Sloppiest that it's been all spring. Most of the plants were laying approximately flat on the ground, but not frozen (because I have only planted cold-loving plants so far), just flattened by the weight of the snow.

Where the tomatillo bed was last summer, there were thousands of tomatillo seedlings. Wow!!! I had always treated them as frost-sensitive, but they didn't look any the worse for wear, and they germinated in spite of the cool night-time temperatures. I also checked the tomato patch. No signs of seedlings. Looks like tomatillos have more cold tolerance than tomatoes. If I get my act together I'll move some of the quicker growing ones into their own bed... Don't know if I should be encouraging weedy behavior, but it sure would be nice to not have to make transplants like I always have before...

I have transplants in 3.5 in pots that are currently flowering. Now I'm wondering if I really need to wait until June to set them out...

[12540dumont]

Joseph, I have not "Planted" a tomatillo in 20 years. I just decide where they can stay. There are thousands to choose from. My stealth food, tomatillos. Neither drought nor rain nor sleet nor dark of night.

[steev]

Fine; but do they deliver to the right address? I'm not claiming that the Postal Service does.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Apr 16, 2015 21:43:29 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

Joseph, I have not "Planted" a tomatillo in 20 years.

My neighbor stopped by the farmer's market, and told me I should stop by her place and get some tomatillos that have volunteered in her garden for 10 years. I am way hyped about them. Local landrace!!! Even though we are still weeks away from average last frost date, and might still get snow, her tomatillos are forming flower buds. That's exciting to me. I collected 17 plants later that afternoon: The most robust plants in her garden. I put them in pots in the greenhouse. I expect to transplant them into the field in about a week, after they have regrown some roots.

She said that the original seed was "Giant Hybrid Tomatillo".

[darrenabbey]

I planted a batch of tomatillos inside this spring, then moved them out into gallon planters... just in time for a frost and light snow. Most of them survived fine. The only ones that even lost leaves were those that were suffering from transplant shock. They're much tougher plants than I had come to expect.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I feel like whining... I've been collecting the cleverest tomatillo fruits all season. Making sure to have both the best of the patch,and representative fruits from each plant.

Today I finally brought the tomatillos home and blended them up in the blender, collected the seeds, and had three bottles of seed sitting on the kitchen counter. One bottle was the best of the purples. One bottle was the best of the large yellows, and one bottle was mixed seed. Before I was finished processing the seed, a family member asked for help with her computer, and while I was helping, she went into the kitchen and dumped the two 'best' bottles down the drain. So all I am left with are the mediocre tomatillo seeds.

Boo Hoo!!! Someday I might learn my lesson that I can never let seeds out of my sight and direct control -- until they are safely enclosed in glass jars.

[darrenabbey]

Did you quickly disassemble the sink's P-trap and save some of those seeds?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Sept 28, 2015 20:30:39 GMT -5 darrenabbey said:

Did you quickly disassemble the sink's P-trap and save some of those seeds?

I should have!!!