While I originally grew purple tomatillo plants from seed from Ferry-Morse, I made the mistake of putting them in the ground before the last cold spell was over. Since they did not survive, I went out and bought two starter green tomatillo plants which are hard to find in Pittsburgh. The starter plants did really well.
I also put some seed directly in the ground in June but they really needed a head start. While they grew and got a few flowers, I never got any purple tomatillos. I will try again to grow them from seed next season.
Don’t worry about when to pick a tomatillo. It will let you know when it is ready. The tomatillo will start filling the husk and become firm and the husk will start separating on the bottom – now it is ready. See the picture above.
I store my tomatillos in the husk in a cool area for a week or two. When you are ready to use the tomatillo, you will need to rinse it because the tomatillo is covered in a sticky substance. Stay tuned to a future blog on making Salsa Verde. You are going to love it!
Please do a search on this blog under “tomatillos” to learn more.
