Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-226
Tomatillo
Physalis philadelphica
Tomatillo produces a husk-wrapped fruit that becomes the base for salsa verde and other green sauces - picked once it fills or splits its papery covering, and usable raw or cooked anywhere a tomato would go, with unripe fruit keeping up to a year stored in the husk. Unlike its nightshade relatives in this group, it needs no midsummer break: it is genuinely more heat-tolerant than tomato and bears steadily through the hottest stretch of summer once it starts around 90 days after transplant. It also needs a second plant nearby, since it cannot pollinate itself, and it self-sows so readily that dropped fruit volunteers freely the next year, which is free replanting rather than a nuisance. Every part of the plant except the ripe fruit is mildly poisonous, including the papery husk, which has to come off before eating.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 8–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–7
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 3–4 ft
- Mature spread
- 3–4 ft
- Plant spacing
- 3–6 ft
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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