I DIDN'T WATER AT ALL RIGHT AWAY BECAUSE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET RAIN THE NEXT DAY. IT WAS A 15 POUND BAG AND AT THIS RATE IT HELD OUT FOR MY WHOLE YARD. I USED SCOTTS TURFBUILDER 29-2-4 ON MY LAWN AT THE SETTING OF 3 RATHER THAN 3 1/4 AS THE BAG SAID. I HAD A LAWN SERVICE THAT I HAD CANCELLED. My real questions is this- if the average ph of a tomattillo is around 3.5, and a tomato is around 4.5(from research I have done on the Internet, using only government studies and the like), why can't we use the Tomato Salsa recipe and substitute our tomatillos for the tomatoes? As much as we enjoy eating the frozen stuff, we are going to need a bigger freezer if we can't find a safe recipe for water bath canning our green salsa ( I plan on doubling the amount of tomatillo plants I grow this year)! We couldn't find anyone who like the Ball version, and we never made it again. These all call for a larger amount of acidification than standard salsa- Ball companies site () asks for 1/2 cup of bottled lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of lime juice for just 4 half-pints of canned tomatillo salsa! I made this one once, and the end result was more like tomatillo pickle relish, without the sweetness. One reason is because we have also used the few "safe" Salsa Verde recipes we have found from various canning sites.
The base ingredients to our recipe are not that different than what we use in the "safe canning' tomato salsa recipe, but we have always put the finished product into the freezer. In the past few years, my wife and I have grown tomatillos for the sole purpose of making our own version of the Salsa Verde that we love from our local Mexican restaurants. I have been using the Tomato Salsa recipe I got from the local U of I ag extension office for over 20 years, putting up over 100 jars of mild and hot versions per year. I have a (long- sorry!) question about canning Salsa Verde (tomatillo salsa).