Tomatillo · Basrah, Basra, Iraq
When to plant tomatillos in Basrah
Main outdoor window
6-27 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
23 January
In Basrah, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 31 Oct
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Basrah
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
11 Dec - 2 Jan
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
6-27 Feb
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Tomatillos through the year
Against the frost risk in Basrah
Why these dates
Start indoors six weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks after it. Fruit is ready when it fills and then splits the papery husk.
Killed at 0C. It sets fruit in heat that makes tomatoes drop their flowers, which is the main reason to grow it in a hot climate.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Tomatillos are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Basrah.
The median frost-free season here is 333 days, against 75 to 100 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Basrah
Other vegetables to time
Growing tomatillos in Basrah
When should I plant tomatillos in Basrah?
Aim for 6-27 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Feb - 12 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will tomatillos be ready to harvest in Basrah?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 31 Oct, based on 75 to 100 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will tomatillos tolerate?
Killed at 0C. It sets fruit in heat that makes tomatoes drop their flowers, which is the main reason to grow it in a hot climate.