|
|
Post by taihaku on Aug 27, 2015 6:04:54 GMT -5
I've seen a few threads here where people have mentioned the persistence of their tomatilloes over years as volunteer plants come up. Last year I grew a couple of varieties of which one (Dr Wyche's) did OK and this year I've got a very healthy crop of volunteers. My plan for next year is to add to those volunteers seed grown plants of various other varieties to get a bit of genetic diversity into the crop and perhaps a mix of fruit types (size and colour).
The end goal is to allow natural selection over the course of a few years to refine that mix and produce a race of tomatilloes adapted for my garden (and by extension elsewhere in the UK where these are still a fairly unusual crop). I have a few "wild spaces" and ideally I'd like the tomatilloes to become one of the dominant annuals in those areas so that simply keeping the grass from overgrowing the area will reward me with a bountiful crop. This year's plants have done exceptionally with no water or care so I'm optimistic in this regard.
Does anyone have any thoughts re the process or recommendations of varieties? |
|
|
|
Post by darrenabbey on Oct 26, 2015 3:05:30 GMT -5
A long-delayed response...
My general idea would be to toss as many varieties into the mix as you can get. The genus Physalis is full of plants with self-incompatibilty mechanisms, so the different varieties should mix it up pretty well.
|
|
|
|
Post by taihaku on Oct 26, 2015 4:28:37 GMT -5
A long-delayed response... My general idea would be to toss as many varieties into the mix as you can get. The genus Physalis is full of plants with self-incompatibilty mechanisms, so the different varieties should mix it up pretty well. Thanks - I'm already seeing a little of that. Last year I tried to grow 2 varieties and I had thought only Dr Wyches had survived to set seed. Clearly at least one plant of the other variety reached flowering size as a number of this year's plants are showing the influence of the other variety (de milpa). The harvest this year from last year's tomatillo bed has gone past 4 kilos which given the size of the bed and the complete lack of care they've had I'm delighted with. We did have some splitting due to heavy rains at one point so the too badly split fruits are being tossed in various nooks and crannies to commence what I'm calling "Operation Feral Harvest".
I have some plans in mind to build a sheltered bee yard within the orchard and have been considering loading the soil around it with bee friendly plants as part of the project. Based on their performance so far the tomatillos will be in amongst it.
|
|
