Growing Tomatoes

I’ve been thinking about fresh tomatoes. That’s one of those perks of summer, but it isn’t summer. A ‘hot house’ tomato just isn’t the same as a home grown one. There just isn’t any comparison.

I’ve never been one to think like a gardener. My father came from a farming family, but I didn’t get any gardening genes. I don’t seem to like yard work in any form. I’m pretty sure when God talked about having to till the soil after the Garden of Eden incident, he specifically told Adam that it was his job to till the soil. At least that’s the way I see it. I’m not going to look it up as don’t want to be wrong. Ignorance is bliss.

My friends have, on occasion, pointed out my shortcomings in gardening. JuJu and Grace are pretty good gardeners. JuJu can name all the flowers and probably has one of each tucked away somewhere in her yard. If she isn’t shredding paper (see the shredding story), she is outside working in her yard. JuJu and Grace both believe in pulling weeds regularly. It must work as there is no comparison between their yards and mine. Mine looks like the Garden of Eden gone wrong. Perhaps that is because it has been left untended by anyone.

Oh, I try once in awhile. I’ve gone outside and pulled a few weeds. It does make the flower beds look better, but it doesn’t hold my interest for long. I don’t seem to reap any of that pure joy that others get from pulling stuff out of dirt.

A couple of years ago, I decided that I’d mend my ways, change my tune, and open myself up for the joy of gardening. I started with tomatoes. I went to a store and stood in the open air tent outside picking through the tomato seedlings. ( I don’t know if they really call it a seedling, but it sounds good to me) I pulled the little plastic picks out of the dirt and read them. I found that some had lots of letters at the top after their names. I decided that I’d best get some help, and I figured the person tending the stand probably didn’t know any more about it that I did. So, I waited. I kept reading the names and descriptions and wondering which would be the nicest juiciest best tasting tomato. If I was going to go to all this gardening trouble, I wanted perfect.

I began eyeing others who were there picking out tomatoes. I struck up a conversation or two and tried to glean some information from those who seemed potential candidates as master gardeners. I wanted a real honest to goodness experienced farmer. I needed help in tomato plant selection 101.

I was finally blessed by a man who seemed to fill the bill. He carefully and patiently explained to me the meaning of all the little letters and pointed me in the direction of some plants that just might suit what I was looking for. He has his personal choices, and I had no reserve about making them mine as well.

I purchased four little plants, some wire cages, some fertilizer, and some gloves. I thought the gloves would be a nice touch. I knew there were a few tools at home, so didn’t bother to purchase any of those.

I planted the tomatoes with great hope and expectation. I could just picture lovely red luscious perfect skinned tomatoes. My tomatoes would be bug free, sweet, and juicy. I almost felt I owed it to my departed father and his line of farmer ancestors to produce this one small crop of tomatoes. I bowed my head and asked a special blessing on my tomato crop. I did.

JuJu and Grace came over and couldn’t believe the tomatoes in my yard. The vines were everywhere and absolutely full of tomatoes. Bugs: there were no bugs. My friends just shook their heads and looked at me with a dawning of new respect. Somehow this disaster of a gardener was growing out of this world tomatoes. I smiled... several times. I smiled every time they came and commented about my tomatoes. They said, ‘CJ, I can’t believe you grew these tomatoes!’ It made me happy.

I had so many tomatoes that I purchased a dehydrator and packaged them to be used in the future. When fall came, I picked a huge box of the last green ones clinging to the vine before the hard freeze. I wrapped them and stored them in a little building behind my house. I had fresh home grown red tomatoes all the way through November and into December. I even learned to fix fried green tomatoes. Yummy!

Sadly, last summer I went back to my old ways. I have no tomatoes, and I am sad. I’m thinking about getting more tomato plants in the spring. I guess if I’m going to eat them, I must plant them and till the soil. Lesson learned.