Lessons From The Garden - Part 2
Tomatillos Are Prolific
Ha! That is the understatement of the year. I must admit, this year was my first time growing tomatillos on purpose. I have had them come up in fill dirt before, which came from a customers old garden space, where my husband was pouring a concrete patio, and was dumped by our driveway to create more parking space.
But, plants growing in mixed fill don't do nearly as well as those growing in fertile garden beds. I didn't realize how well they would do with ample water and nutrients. I only have myself to blame for the results
It started with my son wanting to plant tomatillos to make salsa verde. We also like green chicken tacos which require over a pound of them per recipe. So, I put in four plants (thinking of those fill dirt plants), and expected a moderate yield of fruit
Ah, how silly of me. Those four plants, grew and flourished. I made the mistake of not giving them any support, no stakes or cages, so everywhere the stems touched the soil, new roots would be sent down to take up more nutrients, making the plants grow more. They took over an entire 4×10 garden bed, and went beyond. And they pumped out fruit with alarming regularity
I ended up giving away bags and bags of them, even resorting to stealthy ninja tomatillo drops on neighbors front porches
The lessons I've learned are, unless you REALLY love tomatillos, no one needs more than one or two plants max. Also, set up tall supports to keep the stems off the ground, to keep garden space free for other things. Finally, I realize how resilient tomatillos are. I expect that I will be up to my neck in volunteers next year, so there will be no reason to start plants from seed
Ha! That is the understatement of the year. I must admit, this year was my first time growing tomatillos on purpose. I have had them come up in fill dirt before, which came from a customers old garden space, where my husband was pouring a concrete patio, and was dumped by our driveway to create more parking space.
But, plants growing in mixed fill don't do nearly as well as those growing in fertile garden beds. I didn't realize how well they would do with ample water and nutrients. I only have myself to blame for the results
It started with my son wanting to plant tomatillos to make salsa verde. We also like green chicken tacos which require over a pound of them per recipe. So, I put in four plants (thinking of those fill dirt plants), and expected a moderate yield of fruit
Ah, how silly of me. Those four plants, grew and flourished. I made the mistake of not giving them any support, no stakes or cages, so everywhere the stems touched the soil, new roots would be sent down to take up more nutrients, making the plants grow more. They took over an entire 4×10 garden bed, and went beyond. And they pumped out fruit with alarming regularity
I ended up giving away bags and bags of them, even resorting to stealthy ninja tomatillo drops on neighbors front porches
The lessons I've learned are, unless you REALLY love tomatillos, no one needs more than one or two plants max. Also, set up tall supports to keep the stems off the ground, to keep garden space free for other things. Finally, I realize how resilient tomatillos are. I expect that I will be up to my neck in volunteers next year, so there will be no reason to start plants from seed
Comments
Post a Comment