1st time growing Tomatillos

[VeggieGardenGal]

This is my frist time growing Tomatillos. So far... so good...





Any Advice about growing tomatillos is appreciated

[JC's Garden]

Is that concrete reinforcement wire? Nice cages.

[VeggieGardenGal]

Hi JC's Garden,

Yes it is. My first year using them. I made them myself !!! LOL

What a struggle I had with that wire. It's super strong and I bought a 150 foot roll. Thankfully a friend warned me to be careful. I am 5'3'' and the joke was they were going to come to the garden and find me all wrapped up in the wire. They were almost right about that too... LOL
Had they not warned me... I could have broken fingers when I opened the roll. Whoa... what a surprise I had. Each time I made a cage, I used several very heavy stepping stones to hold the piece of the wire down and to keep the roll stable and from rolling back up on me. The wire is so strong I had to use heavy duty bolt cutters too.

The work was worth it. These should last a very long time. And I love a challenge ::::

[JC's Garden]

Good idea. Hope you don't mind if I steal it. I'll buy a roll for next year. Thanks for the post.

[VeggieGardenGal]

Your not stealing an idea... LOL

I got the idea from someone else.

Plus, sharing photos, thoughts, tips, advice, experiences and ideas is what the forum is all about. I am happy you noticed and going to use it too.

Each square is 6 inches which makes it great for reaching in and pruning or harvesting. These cages are 5 1/2 feet tall which is the width of the roll (11 squares). They are 8 feet in circumference (16 squares). You can make them shorter or narrower and to your liking. I use one stake and attach with zip ties to prevent the wind from knocking them down.

I also use this wire for trellising my pickling cucumbers and beans.

I trellised heirloom tomatoes last year using a piece a friend gave me. These cages or trellis's can have height if you need it. I won't use anything else now. They take up a lot of room for storage. Easily moved when you need to amend and work the soil.

It's similar to cattle wire but better. I don't care for the tapered squares on the bottom of cattle wire. It might be the same as hog wire but I could not find "hog" wire. So my smart friend told me to use the concrete reinforcement wire sold at home depot. I have a very nice friend who has been veggie gardening for over 40 years. He's 87 and happy to share his knowledge to spare me some headaches. I adore him !

[valley]

Hi, Just saw your plants, very nice. You're in a part of the country where that plant would like growing.
Looks like you've done something right, they look real happy. Good for you. I'll bet you can over winter them.

Richard

[Gary350]

Your plants look good. I have never grown Tomatillos. I use to use cement wire for tomato cages years ago it works great. With all those Tomatillos you must be going to make a lot of green enchilada sauce. Yummy.

[imafan26]

I had tomatillos growing wild in my community garden at one time. The birds brought the seeds from a neighboring plot. I did not know what to do with them so I pulled them out. Recently someone had asked me for some plants so I grew a few. I still have left overs so I guess I am going to grow tomatillo again someplace.

[VeggieGardenGal]

Hi Y'all, All I did was amend the soil and plant healthy seedlings. Only one nursery out of many I visit had them. As you can see, they are easy to grow. I have never eaten them other than in green salsa at restaurants. I am excited to learn to cook with them and make my own green salsa.