How to Grow a Salsa Garden

Summer is salsa season. Supermarkets are stacked with glass jars and plastic pots of tomato salsa to meet every Scoville scale demand. Blow your head off hot or mild tongue tingles, the great thing about salsa is that it is so versatile, not to mention cheap and easy to make for yourself.

If you are trying to cut down on packaging a little, then making your own stuff from scratch is a really good start. Buying loose ingredients from the supermarket to make your own salsa has so many benefits, from health to the environment.

However, you could step it up another notch by leaving everything at the supermarket and growing all the ingredients yourself at home. You don’t even need to have a huge garden. All the ingredients you need grow quite happily in pots on your porch or balcony.

Though folk may have their own family recipe with secret ingredients, having some tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and cilantro is a really great start.

Tomatoes

Source: Project Diaries/YouTube

When choosing your plant starts or seeds, go for a fleshy tomato that has low water and seed content. Tomatoes such as Romas, or slicing tomatoes are ideal as they have lots of flesh for dicing or blitzing (depending on how you are making your salsa).

If you are growing your tomatoes from seed then you can start the seeds indoors about 6 weeks before the last frost of winter and plant your seedling out after the last frost. Tomatoes need the temperature to be consistently 50°F or higher to survive. So, when you are planting your plants out, make sure that you choose a spot that gets 6-8 hours of sun a day.

If you have a long growing season—tomatoes can take between 65-100 days to mature—you can direct sow into your garden, but wait until the soil has warmed up to consistently 55°F or higher.

Allow about 18 inches between each tomato plant and be sure to give them something to grow up and along.

Peppers

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Depending on how hot you like your salsa, you can choose to grow mild bell peppers or a spicy variety. Jalapeños are a great option for a little spice and flavor while bell peppers can add juiciness and a little crunch.

Peppers, like tomatoes, are heat-loving plants. You can start seeds indoors about 6 weeks before the last frost and transplant your seedlings outdoors when temperatures are consistently in the 60°F. Your plants will need a good square foot of growing space and at least 5-8 hours of full sun.

Onions and Garlic

Having onions and garlic ready for harvest during the summer isn’t really a go in temperate climates. Unless you have a specific variety, both bulb onions and garlic are usually harvested in late summer or early fall—just when your tomatoes are coming to an end. That doesn’t mean that you can’t grow these two invaluable veggies and store them ready to have on hand come salsa season.

However, another option is to grow green or spring onions instead. These are much faster growers and give you a small bulb and lots of yummy onion-flavored greens. The great thing about green onions is that they are a perennial that can be left in the ground year-round whilst just harvesting the greens.

Source: Easy Peasy Gardening/YouTube

You can actually grow your own green onions from the roots of the green onions you bought at the supermarket. Whether you are doing it this way, or you have onion sets, plant your onion starts in the ground as soon as the earth is workable after the last frost.

These are also heat-loving little things and need 6-8 hours of sunlight a day.

Source: LearnHowToGarden/YouTube

Similarly, you can grow garlic chives throughout the summer instead of garlic bulbs for a little milder garlic flavor that adds tons more green to your salsa.

Garlic chives are a perennial plant that have stunning white flowers in mid to late summer. You can start this plant from seed, or better yet, if you have a friend that already has a clump, you can divide a portion at the roots and transplant it in your own garden or pot.

Cilantro

Source: Epic Gardening/YouTube

Cilantro is a must in salsa for a lot of people. However, annoyingly, if you live in a temperate climate, you will notice that cilantro and tomatoes aren’t destined to grow at the same time. Cilantro is actually a cool-weather plant that bolts and goes to seed in the heat of the summer.

One thing that you can do to mitigate this is to simply keep a succession of cilantro growing all summer. This means planting a new crop of seeds every time you see your previous seeds sprouting. This could be between 7-10 days after sowing.

You can direct sow your seeds in a spot that gets sun, but afternoon shade will help their cause a lot. If you do see your cilantro plant sending up stalks ready for flowering, you can simply snip these off.

Alternatively, you can buy slow-bolt seeds which might give your plants a little more longevity during the hot months.

Related Content:

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• 7 Tricks for Getting Garden Tomatoes Later Than the Neighbors
• Growing Your Own Perennial Culinary Herb Garden at Home 

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