Tomatoes

April 25, 2020

I In the midst of Melissa’s succulent craze she has inspired me to plant a few more vegetables in my own container garden.  Melissa told me she has never had much luck with containers on her back area because of the full sun they receive most of the day.  Her mom used these containers and had excellent results, but her mom could grow anything.  I am determined to try so we went to the Coop to get some plants.  The plants were outside, so we put on our masks and kept our distance and after selecting what I wanted to buy I sat in the car while Melissa went inside to pay.  We unloaded the plants and extra potting soil and I went to work.

I remember my first experience planting tomatoes when I was a boy.  I was working for my Webelo badge in Cub Scouts and one of the projects was to grow a vegetable garden.  My dad had turned a large plot of ground in our yard into garden space so I asked if I could grow the tomatoes.  He agreed and asked how many I wanted to plant.  Without hesitation I said, “Twelve!” Dad did not bat an eye and told me he would buy the plants, but I had to agree to water and care for them all summer.  I promised and shortly the plants were in the ground.   I was good at caring for the plants and they quickly began to produce.  As my dad knew, 12 plants produce a lot of tomatoes.  I not only picked the tomatoes, I also had to figure out what to do with them.  As the summer went on, I quit caring for the plants hoping they would stop producing.  They never did.

When we went to the Coop, I intended to only buy two tomato plants.  I wanted a Beef Steak and a Roma.  Melissa likes the big tomatoes and I wanted to try my hand at salsa.  Salsa meant we also got a couple of types of jalapenos and cilantro.  I have already planted the onions, so I was set.  Then Melissa saw a Yellow Boy and wanted to try it.  The other difficulty was the Roma’s were not sold as a single plant, so I had to buy a flat of six.  All told I ended up with eight containers of tomatoes.  That should make quite a lot of Salsa.  By the way, I hope you like tomatoes.

THOUGHTS:  I am amazed by the number of people who are planting gardens this year.  On the few occasions I get out the nursery’s and plant stores have full parking lots and just like today, only a limited number of plants.  Part of the supply problem is because it is getting later in the planting season, but we had frost warnings last week.  A comedian we watch on Friday’s mentioned that part of the problem with the pandemic comes from poor health and the types of food we eat.  Perhaps with all the gardens being planted we will focus more on fruits and vegetables.  That is my intent.  I hope it is yours as well.  If it is possible, Stay home. Stay safe.