How to grow tomatillo in Rutherglen
Physalis philadelphica
Also called husk tomato, Mexican husk tomato, Mexican green tomato, miltomate, Mexican groundcherry
Frost in Rutherglen 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 Rutherglen
Rutherglen, VIC is in the arid zone. The zone also plants in Jul to Aug, but Rutherglen'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 Rutherglen
Frost usually arrives in Rutherglen around early April and finishes by early November. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as mid March or as late as mid December, 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.