Best time to plant tomatillo in Australia
Physalis philadelphica
Also called husk tomato, Mexican husk tomato, Mexican green tomato, miltomate, Mexican groundcherry
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.
On a shared plot: suits a plot
Finishes in a season and stays within its space, so it suits most plots.
When to sow
| Zone | Months | How well checked |
|---|---|---|
| Cool | Sep to Dec | Not yet checked against a local guide |
| Temperate | Aug to Dec | Not yet checked against a local guide |
| Subtropical | Aug to Oct | Not yet checked against a local guide |
| Tropical | Aug to Nov | Not yet checked against a local guide |
| Arid | Jul to Aug | Not yet checked against a local guide |
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
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.