How to grow tomatillo in Oodnadatta
Physalis philadelphica
Also called husk tomato, Mexican husk tomato, Mexican green tomato, miltomate, Mexican groundcherry
Frost in Oodnadatta rules out the arid zone's usual months for tomatillo. Ask the growers at your garden what works locally.
Tomatillos are small round fruit, green or green-purple, from a nightshade plant first grown in Mexico before Columbus. A mainstay of Mexican cooking, they can be used raw or cooked, most famously in salsa verde. The plant is perennial but usually treated as a yearly crop.
When to sow in Oodnadatta
Oodnadatta, SA is in the arid zone. The zone also plants in Jul to Aug, but Oodnadatta's frost dates make those months risky for a frost-tender crop.
Not yet checked against a local guide.
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
Frost in Oodnadatta
Frost usually arrives in Oodnadatta around late June and finishes by late July. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as early June or as late as mid August, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From its Bureau of Meteorology station, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.
On a shared plot: suits a plot
Finishes in a season and stays within its space, so it suits most plots.
Growing details
- How to start
- Raise seedlings, then transplant
- Sowing depth
- 4mm
- Plant spacing
- 90cm
- Row spacing
- 60cm
- Height
- 100cm
- Germination
- 15-20 days at 22-28°C
- Time to harvest
- 70-90 days
- Frost
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Life cycle
- annual
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.