When to Plant Tomatillos

Start tomatillos indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost, then plant them out 1 to 3 weeks after your last frost.

Tomatillos at a glance

Start indoors: 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost
Plant out: 1 to 3 weeks after your last frost
Time to harvest: 65 to 85 days from planting out
Harvest lasts: about 10 weeks
Spacing: 1 plant per square foot
Frost: Tender: frost kills it

Growing tomatillos

Tomatillos grow like sprawling, easygoing tomatoes. They need warm soil and full sun, and once they get going a couple of plants give plenty of fruit for salsa. The small fruits form inside papery lanterns that hang from the branches all summer.

Dates by hardiness zone

Typical dates for each zone; your ZIP code gives your own.

When to plant tomatillos in each USDA hardiness zone
Zone	Start indoors	Plant out	Harvest
Zone 3a	Apr 2–16	Jun 4–18	Aug 8 – Sep 14
Zone 3b	Mar 22 – Apr 5	May 24 – Jun 7	Jul 28 – Sep 25
Zone 4a	Mar 17–31	May 19 – Jun 2	Jul 23 – Sep 28
Zone 4b	Mar 13–27	May 15–29	Jul 19 – Sep 27
Zone 5a	Mar 8–22	May 10–24	Jul 14 – Sep 22
Zone 5b	Mar 6–20	May 8–22	Jul 12 – Sep 20
Zone 6a	Mar 4–18	May 6–20	Jul 10 – Sep 18
Zone 6b	Feb 26 – Mar 12	Apr 30 – May 14	Jul 4 – Sep 12
Zone 7a	Feb 19 – Mar 5	Apr 23 – May 7	Jun 27 – Sep 5
Zone 7b	Feb 8–22	Apr 12–26	Jun 16 – Aug 25
Zone 8a	Feb 1–15	Apr 5–19	Jun 9 – Aug 18
Zone 8b	Jan 20 – Feb 3	Mar 24 – Apr 7	May 28 – Aug 6
Zone 9a	Jan 5–19	Mar 9–23	May 13 – Jul 22
Zone 9b	Dec 14–28Nights are still cool before mid-February, so this starts a little later.	Feb 15 – Mar 1	Apr 21 – Jun 30
Zone 10a	Dec 14–28	Feb 15 – Mar 1	Apr 21 – Jun 30
Zones 10b–11b	Frost is rare here, so tomatillos can go in from late winter, and again in late summer for a fall crop.