Proud Parents

They sure do grow up quickly! It seems like just yesterday we were preparing to raise our very own little ones. Carefully preparing the bed, gathering the necessary accesories, and mixing the right amount of food. And now, just look at them, we couldn’t be prouder.

tomatos

This has been our best tomato crop ever – by a large margin. The small plants pictured in our late-May post have grown to the size of small shrubs and are overflowing with green tomatoes. But rather than letting all this success go to our heads, we have to give considerable credit to Mother Nature for diligently watering the crop through June and July.

We’re also keenly aware that a tomato in hand in worth two on the bush – actually more on the bush. The last time we grew tomatoes most of them were stolen by one of our woodland friends. We found many of the fruits in the garden bed with a single miniature bite taken. Far more of the crop permanently disappeared. Needless to say, the criminal was neither identified, captured, nor prosecuted.

The most experimental portion of this year’s effort was deploying a Topsy Turvy for one of the plants. Although we were impressed with the growth of the plant, it seemed to be a victim of its own success, hanging lower and lower the more it grew. Most of the plant is now resting on the ground, which works against the theory that a hanging plant is better protected from the above mentioned predators than one grown in the traditional manner.

Over the next month we hope to be able to enjoy at least a few of our homegrown tomatoes. Ideally we’ll be able to combine them with the homegrown basil to create delicious tomato-basil-pesto pizzas, which is the ultimate goal of our gardening effort.