Growing Tamarillos

    Wow…I haven’t posted in almost two months. I’ve felt bad about that. I’ve been gardening quite a bit, and haven’t had much extra time to blog about it. Hopefully that will change now.

   No, let me rephrase that. It will change now.

   I have a few plants growing this year that I’m haven’t grown before and am psyched about. One in particular is Tamarillo, or Tree Tomato.

   Not Tomatillo, mind you. That’s something else entirely. Note the ‘t’ in place of the ‘r’. Tomatillos are pretty common garden plants, especially to lovers of guacamole; a group I’m not really a part of. I’ve never had much of a desire to grow the thing.

   You’ve probably seen or heard of Tamarillos before; you just may not have realized it. You know those incredibly cheesy advertisements in newpapers and the back pages of garden magazines? You know, with a tagline like “The AMAZING Tree Tomato! Harvest 50 gazillion tons off ONE plant YEAR-ROUND!” Usually accompanied by a drawing of a happy-looking fellow in blue jeans leisurely plucking fist-sized fruit from a bushy plant taller than he is?

   Most of my previous experiments with completely off-the-wall fruits and vegetables have ended rather badly. The Kiwano, for instance, which I never got around to blogging about (for good reasons, actually) was very disappointing. Also dubbed “Jelly Melon”, (Jelly=Awesome and Melons=Awesome) it sounded like a winner. It also looked like something a Neanderthal would use to skin some great prehistoric beast. A win-win, right? Turns out it tastes like an overripe cucumber but slightly worse. Not inedible, to be sure…but why bother? You can’t even play catch with the things; they have spikes.

   So anyway, judging the reactions of other bloggers the Tamarillo hasn’t held up well in their estimation. To quote the blogger from The Way the Cookie Crumbles,  

   “IT TASTES LIKE SOAP”

 Harsh….

  The more official descriptions, like one from the California Rare Fruit Grower’s (ever the optimists?) website describes it thus: “While the skin is somewhat tough and unpleasant in flavor, the outer layer of the flesh is slightly firm, succulent and bland, and the pulp surrounding the seed in two lengthwise compartments is soft, juicy, and sweet/tart.”

   They go on to say,

  ”Ripe tamarillos may be merely cut in half lengthwise, sprinkled with sugar (and chilled if you like) and served for eating by scooping out the flesh and pulp.”

   That sounds slightly more appetizing. Either way, I started several from seed, and ended up keeping six. Like tomatoes, they germinate easily and quickly, and, when young, look similar to tomato plants except the leaves are glossier and wider. Here’s a shot of mine now, in pots, at about 5 weeks old:

   Nothing to rave about so far, but they are growing at a steady clip. I potted them in a mixture of commercial potting soil, garden loam, wood chips, vermiculite, and worm castings. Actually, it was what I had around, so I figured it was as good a mix as any. I do that a lot. Most of my best potting soil mixes I end up forgetting because it’s basically pot luck (pun intended).

   For a better idea of what the tree looks like when mature with fruit on it and all…I actually found a YouTube video of someone filming their tree……of all things….

   I’m glad, though, that there’s people out there who’d take the time to perform such a task to share with us Tamarillo-curious folks.

   It’s a sub-tropical plant, by the way. Young plants will die from frost, while the older growth trees will die back, but stay alive during snaps below 28. Fortunately, they grow well in containers, so for most of you that would be your best bet.

   I split them up. I have three in containers and three in the ground. I figure I’ll end up losing the outdoor three, but hopefully enough blankets will do the job for at least a couple of years.

   I’ll keep you posted with more as the things grow and produce fruit hopefully this year or the next!

Good resource:

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/tamarillo.html