Plant Spotlight: Tomatillos, Verde and Purple types!

I've talked briefly on tomatillos in the past, but haven't given them enough verbiage on this blog and my excitement on growing them this year.

In my effort to find relatively easy, pest free things to grow that can hold for a good while without refrigeration, I came upon tomatillos.  The fact that they sound like "tomatoes" helps too, because just about anything that sounds like/reminds me of a tomato seems to be delicious.

My first encounter with tomatillos was at an amazing international mart in my hometown over last Thanksgiving.  I had seen and heard of tomatillos before as I am an authentic cookbook freak and there are a good number of Mexican recipes that cite tomatillos as an ingredient.  The fruit itself is very eye catching: papery yellowing husk with a slight stickiness to it and a globular lime green firm fruit popping out from the husk.  I didn't want to eat the fruit when I was away from home because I wanted to save the seeds properly and was afraid I'd lose them if I attempted tomatillo seed saving away from home, so I brought the fruits back  and after a few weeks, and noticing with glee that they held very well at room and refrigerator temperature, I finally cut into them.

I had actually had never had a tomatillo before then and so I was very surprised by the flavor.  It was an intense, green apple flavor with citrus-y tones and other ineffable notes that I can't describe.  I was impressed, and my husband was too, and when gets impressed by a fruit/vegetable, I take note because he's quite a bit pickier than me about these things.

The seeds can be saved very easily, just like regular tomato seeds via the fermentation method, though I suspect they could also just be washed and dried for later use.  My experience also seems to indicate that the seeds are very vigorous and I've had no troubles with germination.

Tomatillos, also known as Mexican husk tomato, or to get Latin-y: Physalis philadephica, are of the Solanaceae family, where tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are also members of.  Closer relatives to tomatillos include: Love-in-a-cage, aka Chinese lantern plants, gooseberries and ground cherries; all of which are edible and can be eaten fresh or made into jams/jellies.

The green varieties of tomatillos tend to be larger and tarter with the purple variety, which I have not personally tried, but hope to this summer, is supposed to be smaller but sweeter and hold longer and are also less sticky than the green kind.  The green and purple variety both produce about the same amount of total fruit in volume per plant, with fewer individual green fruits as they are larger, but more purple fruits as they're smaller.

There are few pests that affect tomatillos, though I did encounter tobacco/tomato hornworms on some seedlings recently, I have noticed very little damage on my older plants that are in the garden ground other than maybe some flea beetle nibbles.

I've read that the soil should be rich where you decide to grow tomatillos, but as they are like weeds in Mexico I've heard and if they are like the tomato plants from my compost bin, they'll be forgiving of the soil I'm sure.

Tomatillo vines like tomatoes can be stakes or allowed to roam, though obviously you'll get more clean fruit when staked.  The leaves are like a mix of tomato and pepper leaves, though rangier in my opinion.  Mine have still yet to show flower, but from pictures they appear to look like tomatoes for the most part with some darkness in the center.

Once the flowers are pollinated and the fruit begins, the fun too begins!  The fruit swells and is covered by the calyces of the flower, which will form the husk.  The husk covers the fruit and when it's time to harvest, like a turkey with those red pop up things, the fruit breaks the husk to indicate ripeness!  How much easier can it get?!

Harvest as often as possible because like other fruits/vegetables, production goes down if you don't harvest.  Storage is simple, refrigeration with husks on or off, though I've heard they last longer with the husks off.  I've also read that single layers in a cool dark location allow tomatillos to store just fine for months.  In addition, like some tomato tales I've heard, natives in Central/South America will just store entire yanked up plants with fruits on them hanging  upside-down in a room just fine.

Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply sells both verde and purple tomatillo seeds and if you need other seeds anyways, they do have a current special of 2 free organic vegetable seed packets with every order from now until the end of the year, so take advantage if you already need seeds and want to try a new vegetable or variety! (<-- not affiliated btw, just like their free seed thing).

Many pardons for the lack of pics on my behalf.  It's my first year growing growing them, and there hasn't been much activity or flowering, so it's a boring plant to look at now.  Please follow the links provided if you wish for more pics or interesting uses for tomatillos:
http://www.google.com/images?q=tomatillo&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/mexican_husk_tomato.html
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-tomatillo14-2008may14,0,1107342.story

Cut and Come Again! Hail the regrowing vegetable!

You gotta love a vegetable that will take your scissor-y vengeance and reward you by saying, "HA! Look at me!"  and burst into song with disco thumping in the background:

"... I will survive
as long as I know how to grow again
I know I will stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my chlorophyll to give
and I'll survive
I will survive

Hey! Hey!"

Winter gardening is so exciting and adventurous feeling!  It makes me feel like some Swiss Alps Mountaineer Gardener!

Growing tomatoes in the fall/winter is adventurous if you don't have a greenhouse, but in all reality, there are some super hardy greens and plants that just happen to be rather frost tolerant (to an extent of course) and don't leave you in the cold in terms of growth or taste!

My husband is not a fan of bland lettuces, and we tend to like it spicy here when we're freezing are little toes off so we stick with variety of kales and mustards in our salads and cooking for a bit of kick to warm us up.

Some well known cool weather "cut and come again" greens/plants include:

-Arugula (too bitter for the man here.  Bah, he doesn't know what tough is! :)
-Various Mustards such as: mizuna, tatsoi, india, purple wave, etc. (it's a hardy family!)
-Greens considered weeds (dandelions, lamb's quarters/corn salad/mache, chicory)
-Chervil
-Pak choi (Chinese cabbage)
-Gourmet greens: escarole, endive, radicchio
-Swiss chards
-certain spinach varieties
-beet leaves
-radish leaves
-sorrel
-miner's lettuce
-Some varieties of cauliflower and broccoli (if you cut off the main flowerhead, smaller shoots can form heads off to the side)

Many of these plants are eaten young before they get too bitter or tough, though are still edible at a more mature state;  a little cooking is just needed to make them more palatable.

As a great amount are of these plants' consist of are leaves, it's highly suggested to foliar feed them every other week especially as you will be cutting them constantly and need to make up for the loss of energy producing chlorophyll filled cells you're taking from the plant.

It's best  not to go plucking mad when you harvest your greens because you don't want to end up pulling up the shallow roots.  So use some sharp cutting scissor rather than a machete because whacking your greens to pieces is not going to earn you any points when it comes to them growing back.  It's not brain surgery, but you'll want to cut your greens (if they are the loose leaf type) at lowest an end above the ground to ensure you don't cut the growing tip and then no more deliciousness!

Like anything, you can wear a good thing out and it's suggested for the lettuces (and we'll see about my kales and mustards) that you should re-seed every other week to ensure continual harvests.  If you are planning to grow a nice variety of plants and greens I suggest you grow them in their own separate areas so that when you do harvest you make it easier on yourself and able to insure that you cutting them at a good height for future harvests to grow.  Mixing spoon shaped leaves tatsoi with frilly kales for example would make this difficult.

Don't  be put off if you think it's too late to grow these plants outside.  Many of them are germinate quite well actually in cool weather and to further shoot down any excuses, there's always indoor windowbox gardening!

Helpful Links:
http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_harvest_the_same_vegetable_multiple_times
 http://www.gardenwiseonline.ca/gw/sustainable-gardening/2005/05/01/quotcut-and-come-againquot-vegetables
 http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/cut-and-come-again-leafy-greens/
 http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/jamie-oliver/jamie-at-home/matt-james-cut-and-come-again_p_1.html
 http://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/vegetable_plants/cauliflower_plant_cut_n_come_again/
 http://www.ehow.com/how_5137454_grow-lettuce-patio-container.html