Salsa Fresca Recipe

This arrangement is a sweet combination of acid and heat, and it’s beautiful. Tomatoes and spicy peppers are tender perennials, which means they can live through the winter when given enough warmth and light. Add a few easy-to-grow shallots and a slow-to-bolt cilantro plant, and you have the ingredients you need to grow your own salsa. The addition of sweet alyssum invites visits from beneficial insects like hoverflies, which protect your garden by feasting on pests like aphids and leafhoppers.

Planting Tip #1

Plant your tomato in the back center of your pot to create an eye-catching backdrop, and place it under a tent trellis so the vines can climb it. On either side of the tomato, plant a pepper, preferably a foot away.

Planting Tip #2

Place the cilantro start in the empty space directly in front of your tomato plant, at least eight inches from the base of the plant. Scatter the shallots, using a zigzag pattern, in between the peppers and cilantro. Add the sweet alyssum plants around the edges of your planter. They’ll spill over and, thanks to shallow roots, leave plenty of space for the other plants.