Start a Salsa Garden in VA: Tips & Resources

[DavidSnider]

I'm planning on starting a salsa garden to make fresh salsa this year. My garden has nine 4'x4' beds and is located in Virginia. I know we have some people on this forum that do this and was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on what to put in it and how many of each plant to grow. Also links to any sites or books you've found helpful would be nice too.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I'm planning on starting a salsa garden to make fresh salsa this year. My garden has nine 4'x4' beds and is located in Virginia. I know we have some people on this forum that do this and was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on what to put in it and how many of each plant to grow. Also links to any sites or books you've found helpful would be nice too.

mmmmm I'm salivating just thinking about fresh salsa!

 

[Astronuc]

Cilantro, onions and one or two tomato plants and/or pepper plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_(sauce )

One could add garlic, but one has to plant cloves in the fall, just around the first frost.

 

[Evo]

Hey David, the number of plants depends on if you want enough to make fresh salsas throughout the growing season or if you want to can it (no longer fresh).

I grow jalapenos in containers and one bush will always have at least 30 jalapenos on it, in the garden you'd probably get a larger yield.

If you plan to plant cilantro, you will have trouble, it bolts quickly in warm weather, which means it goes to seed and is no longer cilantro, it's corriander.

If you want to do canning, turbo can help, he does a lot of canning.

 

[DavidSnider]

Yeah, on second thought I'd probably rather do canning.

Does anybody have a good source of information on how to estimate plant yields and what the spacings for the plants should be?

 

[turbo]

Salsa is fun. Just remember that as you process your ingredients, you need to slightly undercook them. The canning process softens your ingredients more, and you don't want mush. I can't manage to get a fresh-salsa taste and feel with store-bought ingredients, but my canned stuff is way better than the commercial stuff.

 

[turbo]

Yeah, on second thought I'd probably rather do canning.

Does anybody have a good source of information on how to estimate plant yields and what the spacings for the plants should be?

Hard to tell, David. Some years are really good, and some go bust. I always plant more tomato plants than I think I'll need. Same with peppers. Bad weather and blight can wreck your plans. Good luck.

 

[Astronuc]

Hey David, the number of plants depends on if you want enough to make fresh salsas throughout the growing season or if you want to can it (no longer fresh).

I grow jalapenos in containers and one bush will always have at least 30 jalapenos on it, in the garden you'd probably get a larger yield.

It may be a good idea to put tomatoes and peppers in containers, as Evo suggested, in order to mitigate blight.

 

[turbo]

It may be a good idea to put tomatoes and peppers in containers, as Evo suggested, in order to mitigate blight.

And never plant tomatoes near potatoes! They are both susceptible to blight. Potatoes are cheap. Home grown tomatoes are priceless. If one crop gets late blight, you will probably lose the other.

 

[Evo]

David, is this your first garden?

 

[DavidSnider]

David, is this your first garden?

Yes it is.

 

[Monique]

If you plan to plant cilantro, you will have trouble, it bolts quickly in warm weather, which means it goes to seed and is no longer cilantro, it's corriander.

Only if you are in the US, linguistically cilantro is the spanish name for coriander. I sounds strange if you say it's no longer cilantro, but changes to coriander I've tried to grow coriander two times, by purchasing bunches with roots. The first I directly potted and it died, the second I put on water and it died as well. It's my favorite herb, when spring comes I'll to to sprout some seeds.

 

[Evo]

Only if you are in the US, linguistically cilantro is the spanish name for coriander. I sounds strange if you say it's no longer cilantro, but changes to coriander

You're absolutely correct, but it just seemed easier to make the distinction that what we call "cilantro" is just a phase of the coriander plant.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/cilantro/cilantro-bolting.htm

 

[Monique]

The naming is still confusing, both the herb and spice are coriander (leaves vs seeds) and there are also cilantro seeds. But then languages never appeared logical to me, so never mind.

It appears from the article that it's hard to grow the plant, since it's easily stressed into producing seeds? Do you know what kind of conditions it likes to grow in? Maybe I should research it a bit before attempting to grow it..

 

[Evo]

The naming is still confusing, both the herb and spice are coriander (leaves vs seeds) and there are also cilantro seeds. But then languages never appeared logical to me, so never mind.

This article says the distinction doesn't even exist in the UK.

http://www.squidoo.com/coriander-cilantro

It appears from the article that it's hard to grow the plant, since it's easily stressed into producing seeds? Do you know what kind of conditions it likes to grow in? Maybe I should research it a bit before attempting to grow it..

Cool and moist.