First, the tomatillos.  I have enjoyed tomatillos ever since the first time I made a green salsa.  The tomatillos were roasted with some onions and jalapenos, and then blended with cilantro, garlic, and lime juice for some of the best salsa I’ve ever had.  I read on a blog last year that tomatillos were exceptionally easy to grow, and I thought, why not? I seldom seem to find good ones at the stores these days, and just imagine…my own salsa verde in the pantry. The tomatillo’s were the toughest to germinate though! They took a long time to sprout, and then once they did, they were the tiniest, most gangly sprouts.  There wasn’t much to them, and I was afraid they wouldn’t do to much in my climate.  Um.  I think I was wrong. Here are my tomatillos today.

I had planned on two plants in pots, but when a third seedling emerged and survived, and I found myself with an extra pot, I decided to plant the third one.  They’re doing fantastic so far…the plants are monsters- the main stem is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter itself, and while they seem fairly sturdy, I have gone ahead and loosely tied the plants up to some bamboo poles for added support.  It’s been a few weeks since the first signs of flowers, and oh boy, somethings been doing some pollinating!  Here’s a picture of some of the tiny little lanterns beginning to grow.

It’s my understanding that the paper husk emerges first, and then the fruit grows inside the lanterns- and I also understand that it may take awhile, but I’m sure having fun watching these plants grow.  They’ve fascinated the entire family.  While they seem to be doing okay in pots, I bet they would be even happier in the ground.  They dry out easily, so I’ve had to water them pretty frequently.  Here’s a close-up of the biggest lantern so far.

I also wanted to explore the tatsoi a little further today.  I confess that this is the second planting of tatsoi, as I missed the first one entirely.  I had no idea what I was dealing with, and the plants bolted before I could even blink.  One day I had little green leaflets, and this vague idea that I should find something to do with my tatsoi, and then the next minute I had flowers and terribly bitter and astringent leaves.  So they came out of the ground without ever really exploring the green.

Tatsoi, as it turns out is an Asian green, commonly used in stir-frys and such.  When I ordered the seeds for the tatsoi, I guess I had been under the impression that I was ordering something similar to a bok choy, so I was surprised to learn that these little leaves were all I was going to get.  The plants are very pretty in the garden- the leaves are a nice shade of green, and they grow in this pretty circular formation.  They are meant to be eaten as small, tender leaves.  Straight off the plant the leaves have a nice crunch to them and a flavor not unlike bok choy, or a napa cabbage maybe. It was a light flavor, and in the background was the vaguest hint of something peppery.  The stems are also delicious and are very crunchy and full of water- they were very satisfying to bite into actually.  Here is a close up of one individual plant:

I used them tonight in a noodle dish for dinner, and I must say that tatsoi gets high marks as a cooked green.  I will be growing them again, but I will have to make a note to keep an eye on the tatsoi.  I’ll be checking it every day now and see if there are tell tale signs before bolting.  The plants themselves don’t seem to grow too many leaves by themselves either, so I have to say that if you were cooking for more than one person, you would want to grow more than one square foot of the tatsoi.  I would say one foot per person at the minimum.  It was definitely effortless to grow- direct seeded into the garden it germinated quickly, and as my first experiment with an Asian green, I must say I find it a success.

I ordered my seeds for tatsoi from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and if these are any indication, I’ll be ordering plenty more Asian greens from them in the future.