Grow a salsa garden by planting everything you would want to put in a homemade salsa. This often includes tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro, papalo, and basil. What you grow will vary greatly on whether you like spicy or mild salsa. Also the region you live in will greatly impact what peppers and herbs you can grow.
How would you like to make your own unique salsa right from your garden? You could grow your own peppers, onions, and tomatoes to spice up your next fiesta.
How Long Does it Take to Grow a Salsa Garden?
You’ll want to plant your salsa garden in the spring so that it will be ready to harvest around mid-summer. Different vegetables will take different amounts of time to reach your desired ripeness.
Tomatoes can get up to 6 – 7 feet tall and will take about 3 and a half months to be fully ripe. Peppers will take about 3 months depending on the type of pepper. Onions will be ready in about 4 months.
You don’t want to wait until summer to start planting your salsa garden because they will lose flavor due to frost and they might come out really small if they grow at all.
What Vegetables Should Go In a Salsa Garden?
The vegetables that you should have in your salsa garden depend on if you want to have sweet or spicy salsa. Not every one likes sweet salsa and not every one likes spicy salsa. We’ll let you know which ones work best for each type of salsa.
Tomatillos (Sweet or Spicy Salsa)
Tomatillos (paid link) can come in either purple or green and they both are great to add some consistency to your salsa base. These don’t self pollinate so you’ll have to do it yourself. You’ll want to plant 2 plants right next to each other so that they’ll pollinate each other.
Cilantro (Sweet or Spicy Salsa)
How can you have salsa without cilantro? Cilantro (paid link)can add a fresh zesty accent to either sweet or spicy salsa. Put these in the back of your garden because they don’t like too much heat or direct sunlight. If they get too much heat they will start to bolt. Sometimes when they’re bolted they can add a little twang to your salsa if that’s what you like. You can maybe plant some in the sunlight as well as some in the shade so that you can get a variety of bolted and unbolted cilantro.
Papalo (Sweet or Spicy Salsa)
Papalo is an ancient Mexican herb that is a great alternative to cilantro that loves being in the sunlight. It can be used in the exact same way and tastes almost just like it. Plant these throughout your garden to fill some space if you need to. Find out how to preserve your herbs in this post.
Culantro (Sweet or Spicy Salsa)
This is another cilantro alternative that loves to soak up the sun as well. It looks nothing like cilantro but it smells just like it. It produces big green leaves that you can cut up very fine into your salsa to give it that nice zest.
Green Onion (Sweet or Spicy Salsa)
Also known as scallions, they are a staple in many salsa recipes as well. They add a nice twang to the taste of your salsa and will help to keep it fresh for longer. To learn more about growing onions, check out our Common Garden Onion Questions post.
Tasmanian Chocolate Tomato (Sweet or Spicy Salsa)
The Tasmanian Chocolate Tomato is the perfect tomato to use for the base of your salsa. You don’t want a tomato that’s too juicy and full of water but you also don’t want tomatoes that are too small and hard to cut. These determinates are better because they are a good middle ground between being meaty enough to fill out the base of your salsa while having enough water in them to mix your other ingredients in. Check out this post to learn more about Growing Tomatoes!
Jalapenos (Spicy Salsa)
Jalapenos (paid link) are spicy peppers that every one knows and loves. Unless you don’t like spicy food then you probably don’t love them so much. You can harvest them while they’re young and green or if you want to add a little sweetness let them go red so they get sweeter.
Tequila Sunrise Pepper (Sweet Salsa)
These bright orange peppers are a very sweet addition to your salsa. They get about 5″ long and almost take the shape of a carrot. They look like a chili pepper, but they are actually very mild and sweet.
Mad Hatter Pepper (Sweet Salsa)
These crazy looking peppers might make you think these are some really spicy peppers given the name as well. They actually taste pretty good and they’re very sweet and fruity. Great to add some unique flavor to your salsa.
Basil (Sweet or Spicy Salsa)
Basil (paid link) is another type of herb that just goes in great with salsa. It doesn’t do much for the sweet or spicy meter, but it just adds that fresh taste to accent your salsa. You’ll want to plant these in between your other vegetables if you need to fill up some space to keep the soil planted.
Habanero Pepper (Spicy Salsa)
These are some very hot peppers that are going to make your mouth and your eyes water. Although they do have a little bit of a sweet taste they are still very spicy. These bright orange peppers from the Amazon Rainforest are about 20-30 times hotter than jalapeno.
Primero Red F1 Habanero Pepper – $5.25
from: High Mowing Organic Seeds
Ghost Pepper (Spicy Salsa)
Some say that the ghost pepper is the hottest pepper in the world. This bright red pepper is about as dangerous as it looks. Plant if you dare. It’s sure to be a hit for people who love spicy salsa but be careful how much you put into it.
Cobra Pepper (Spicy Salsa)
Cobra Peppers aren’t as spicy as ghost peppers, but they’re still up there. These long black peppers can add a good amount of spice to your salsa, or let them go red for a slightly sweet accent similar to how jalapenos get a little sweeter when they go red.
Chadwick Cherry Tomato (Sweet Salsa)
These tomato’s make an awesome sweet base to your salsa. These plump, round tomatoes are resistant to disease and they form a large cluster of 1″ tomatoes when they’re ripe.
Golden Marconi (Sweet Salsa)
These bright yellow peppers get about 6″ long and they can add a sweet fruity flavor to your salsa. They are also very crispy which can add to the consistency of your salsa if you chop it in small chunks and spread it throughout.
White Sweet Spanish Onion (Sweet Salsa)
These onions are great to add to any sweet salsa as they do not have the sharp spicy taste that many onions have, but they are still very sweet. They get about 5″ in diameter and they are very firm so you can keep them in storage for a while until you need them.
Red Burgundy Onion (Spicy Salsa)
These are the types of onions that will make you cry while cutting them! They’ll add a spicy kick to any of your salsa recipes and they store very well also.
How Much Space Do I Need?
You can pack a lot of these vegetables in a pretty small space. Your entire salsa can fit in a salsa bed 4 feet deep 6 and a half feet long. 24 square feet is more than enough, At least give yourself 16-20 square feet to fit in everything you need. Find out more about creating a garden in a small space in this post.
There are some smart pots you can get that have about 13 square feet of growing space. Not much but they are made out of a special material that forms a nice fibrous root system at the bottom.
You’ll want to plan out the different types of vegetables that you are going to put in your garden so that you can fit everything inside. For example, keep in mind that tomatoes and tomatillos don’t self germinate so you’ll need to plant 2 next to each other to make sure that they grow.
You’ll also need some space for tomato cages. Tomato cages don’t work well to support tomatoes but they work well to support peppers. Get some bamboo stakes for your tomatoes to support them instead because they’ll tend to grow very tall.
You want to think about what every plant needs and how they affect each other. Plants that need more sun should be placed a certain way so that they can soak up as much sun as they need and also give shade to plants that don’t like too much sun. Make sure to put things that might not like full sun towards the back so the shade from other plants will help them. Put your peppers in the front so they soak up the heat.
The way you place each plant is going to determine how much can you fit in without impeding the growth of other plants.
Growing your own salsa garden is a really fun and easy way to spice up your life. Most of the vegetables involved are pretty low maintenance; so long as you make sure to water them every once in a while they’ll come out great.
Positioning your different vegetables in a way that they can support each other is a skill that you can develop over time so that your plants grow larger and hold more flavor.
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