Salsa lovers can grow a garden just for dipping

If you have a sunny spot in the garden, you can grow most of the ingredients for homemade salsa.

Tomatoes

Prepare the soil by adding lots of organic matter. When the soil is ready for planting, head to the garden center for tomato plants.

Tomatoes are divided into two groups: determinate and indeterminate. Indeterminate types produce tomatoes over a longer period, grow tall and need strong cages or staking. Determinate varieties are more compact. If you don't have a sunny spot in the yard and plan on growing tomatoes in containers on a sunny deck, a determinate plant may be the best choice.

Remove the lower leaves from plants and bury stems deeper than they were in their pots. Apply an organic, slow-release fertilizer when planting. Space plants a couple feet apart.

Once plants are established, mulch to conserve moisture and reduce weeds. Consistent moisture is critical to tomatoes, especially once fruits develop.

Peppers

Peppers and tomatoes may be meant for each other in salsa, but not in the garden. Both are at risk for early and late blight, so keep them separated in the garden. If space allotted in the landscape for a vegetable garden isn't large enough, peppers are easy to grow in pots.

Peppers are sun worshippers and heat lovers. Work in a lot of organic matter to the soil before planting. Mulching the soil around plants will give them the consistent moisture they favor.

Choose the variety based on the amount of heat preferred in salsa. Poblano peppers are ideal for milder salsas. Harvest them when they turn deep red.

Use jalapeño or banana peppers for salsa with medium heat. Banana peppers can be used when they have grown 4 to 6 inches long. Pick them green for a little less heat; red for more heat. Harvest jalapeño peppers when they are about 3 inches long.

Serrano peppers are for salsa lovers that enjoy their salsa hot, hot, hot. These can be used while they are green or after they have colored.

Use caution when preparing peppers for salsa. The hotter the pepper, the more protection advised. Seeds, veins and oils of hot peppers can cause serious burns. Rubber gloves and eye protection shield hands and eyes. Always wash hands after handling.

Onions

It may be too late to plant onions from seeds or transplants, so plant onion sets (immature bulbs) about 4 inches apart in 1-foot rows. Feed them with high-nitrogen fertilizer every few weeks until they start producing bulbs. Water often enough to keep the soil slightly moist until bulbs have enlarged.

Onions for salsa can be harvested as soon as they are large enough to dice.

Cilantro

Cilantro may be the most difficult ingredient of salsa to grow. It grows best when nights are cool and days are sunny, conditions available long before its salsa partners have hit their stride. It quickly bolts in the hot weather tomatoes and peppers love.

Instead of growing cilantro from seeds, buy small plants from the garden center as tomatoes are forming. Plant them in rich soil in a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade. Pinch off flowers as soon as they appear; water them to keep the soil slightly moist; and mulch to keep the soil cool.

Harvest young leaves of cilantro for salsa.

After you've tried homemade salsa with these basic ingredients, try growing others. Corn, tomatillos and oregano are just a few other plants sometimes found in salsa recipes that can be grown in the garden.

• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist, garden writer and speaker. She blogs at gardenwithdiana.com.