Foreign Friday. Volksvreemde Vrydag

Tomatillos (Physalis philadelphica/Physalis ixocarpa)

When I bought my first tomatillo seeds a year ago (May 2013) I was very hopeful. It was the first seed I bought, and being a naive, first-time veg gardener I thought I would harvest a ton of green and purple tomatillos come summer. By March this year I was ready to pull the whole lot out. One miserable tomatillo. Hopes and dreams dashed.

Middle Feb 2014 - still hoping for any type of harvest

Middle Mar 2014 - hopes dashed...

... one miserable tomatillo harvested by Mid-March 2014

I really don't know what I did wrong with my tomatillos, but I have two theories. One; the sun scorched them, nestled up against the vibracrete wall. Two; the soil wasn't fertile enough. It's difficult to say which one of these theories is the correct one, or if it is a combination of the two. This is because I added tons of compost just as the weather cooled down slightly by the end of March.

In the gentler weather of April I started to notice a difference, and by middle May I had tomatillos everywhere:

15 May 14 - An abundance of green tomatillos!!!

15 Mei 14 - Groen tomatillos in oorvloed!!!

Now I was faced with another problem. You see, after I basically wrote off the tomatillos in March I had set this bed out for brown onions. Only brown onions. The granny told me April is the best month to plant onions in my neck of the woods. April came and went as I waited for the tomatillos to ripen, but by middle May I couldn't delay anymore. Yes, my tomatillos would've been bigger had I harvested them later, but onions are worth more in this household. You see, tomatillos are volksvreemd... onions not. So out went the tomatillos and in went the Texas Granos. 

This is what I harvested:

 

Maybe I should try a simple Salsa Verde recipe now. What do you think?

Botanical Name: PHYSALIS PHILADEPHICA or PHYSALIS IXOCARPA
Common Name: Tomatillo, Mexican tomato, husk tomato
Volksnaam: -
Native to: Mexico
Date planted/sowed: 10 + 18 Oct 2013
Ease to grow: Moderately easy to grow, but I had difficulties getting the plants to fruit
Costs: R11.00 for 35 seeds and about R20.00 for compost
Notes: Compost soil well two weeks before sowing tomatillo seed. Also avoid planting against hot, reflective walls.

Spring Harvests. Lente Oeste

With it already being the second day of summer here in South Africa, I thought it appropriate to report back on what I harvested in my backyard garden (and also in other patches scattered throughout) during spring. While some vegetables performed quite well, others were simply not suited to our Garden Route climate, or suffered because of my inexperience and a lack of sunshine. This is what I harvested:
 

End Sep 2013 - nasturtiums, strawberries and "cauliflower"/kappertjies, aarbeie en "blomkool"

The first plants to produce anything vaguely fit for "harvest" were nasturtiums I sowed late July in a container and strawberries the granny and I planted late May and late June. Nasturtiums are always rampant growers, so I didn't expect anything less of them. On the other hand; I am currently planning to replant my strawberries in the soil, because they're not producing as they should in their pots, but then again; maybe their pots are too small. Questions, questions... I won't even mention the cauliflower, as they were a total failure. Of the twelve plants I purchased and planted late May, I didn't get one decent-sized cauliflower head. The biggest one was about 2cm x 2xm! I think I planted it too late in the year, because they got some sort of fungal disease. Perhaps I should plant them earlier in autumn next time?

Start of Oct 2013 - Some of the radishes/Sommige van die radyse

Radish was the one vegetable that performed brilliantly in the garden. Such a quick perfomer as well! I sowed them mid-August and harvested these beautiful babies in the beginning of October. How chuffed was I! The one thing I learned for myself is that they perform miserably in shady areas. Radishes I planted between my broad beans, in a mostly shady area, could only be harvested two weeks later than the ones in full sun, and were stunted and small. Yes, all sources told me most vegetables don't work well in shade, but I had to see it for myself, okay. Haha

Mid-Oct 2013 - An abundance of parsley/Pietersielie vir Afrika

Parsley, parsley and more parsley! Yes, parsley was definitely the biggest star in my spring garden (and I have the dried bottles of parsley to prove it). Both the curly-leaf and Italian varieties performed well, although the latter out-shined the former to an extent. Now that it is summer I'm having problems with them going to seed, but that is to be expected I suppose.

End Oct 2013 - Meager broad bean haul/Skamele boerboon oes

Yes, I made the same mistake with the broad beans as with some of the radishes... too much shade! What started out as a beautiful bed of beans under a leafless Acer negundu tree in autumn, turned out to be the aphid-infested bane of my existence under a fully-leaved Acer in spring! Regrets, regrets! Especially because the little broad beans I could harvest tasted so heavenly in one of the mother's Cape Malay curries. Ai! Note to self - plant broad beans beginning of autumn in a sunshiny spot next year!

Start of Nov 2013 - Lots of leeks and lettuce/Pragtige preie en baie blaarslaai

In addition to the parsley, leeks and lettuce were the other two members of the trio of top performers. Lovely green and purple lettuce bought at Norgarivier Nursery and planted in the beginning of October went into beautiful green salads. The leeks went into a gorgeous Leek, Bacon and Cheese Pie. The family couldn't get enough! Basically you pre-fry the leeks in butter, add it and grated cheddar, a carton of cream, a packet of half-cooked bacon and two eggs to a pie tin, in pastry, and voila! If you don't have enough leeks (like I did), sommer add a few normal diced onions to taste. Works like a charm.

Mid-Nov 2013 - Pole and bush bean harvest/Rank-en bosboon oes

Beans always perform well in our backyard garden, so I expected nothing less this year. This year I planted white pole beans, Contender bush beans and Lazy Housewife pole beans. In the photo, the larger, flattish beans on the left are the Lazy's and the thinner ones are the others. I got the organic Lazy's at Livingseeds - a highly recommended organic seed store. The white beans and Contenders I got from another kindly neighbour. 

We have already enjoyed all of them as green beans and some of them have been blanched and frozen. Now I can't wait for the bushes to perform even better, so the granny can make a decent batch of curried beans yummy!

I planted twelve red onion seedlings during the last week of May, and about the same number of Australian Browns the first week of June. The red onions performed quite well, but the white onions produced the smallest onions imaginable. We harvested them all the very end of November.
The lesson I learned from this comparison? Do not plant onions in hard-as-nails and compacted soil!

Hope I haven't bored you all with this lengthy post, but I guess someone out there might pick up a tip or two from my successes and failures. What do they say; practice makes perfect.