Tomato Babies

My mother lived at the new house after we moved for three years before she died. In those three years, there was one season when we went to the store and bought plants. We planted azaleas and gladiolus in the front and tomatoes in the backyard. 

I don't actually remembered what sparked this choice to go purchase plants. I don't remember my mother ever taking care of plants except a pothos plant she'd had since my brother was born. But I remember planting all of these plants. We were just playing really. Nothing actually grew well. The azalea did okay for a few years but didn't thrive. The gladiolus bloomed that first year and never again. 

The tomatoes? Oh the tomatoes...now these I remember vividly.

We planted the tomatoes next to the fence facing south. They received a decent amount of sunlight, and it really wasn't a bad place to tuck some tomato plants and still stay out of the way of the rest of the yard. 

I was in charge of taking care of all the plants. I remember coming home from school in the afternoon everyday and I'd go outside and fill up watering jugs, open the front gate and water the azaleas and the gladiolus in the front. Then I'd go back into the backyard and swap my watering jug for the hose. I'd stretch the hose out and wind it around the backyard to where the tomatoes were. I'd stand there watering the tomatoes and watch water drip off their foliage. 

Then I'd proceed to water the rest of the grass in the backyard and make my way back toward the spigot to turn off the water once I'd sprayed the whole backyard. I would reel the hose and wind it back onto the hose stand nearly before going back inside the house. I enjoyed watering these plants after school. It was fun. I was alone. It was therapeutic.

One afternoon I was poking around the garage and I found my dad's fertilizer. Lawn fertilizer, although I didn't know the difference. Being about 11-12, I understood that fertilizer helped plants grow faster. I also knew I needed to wear gloves handling them as it is a chemical. But I did not know about the correct amount of fertilizer to apply. I did not know that too much fertilizer would turn into poison. I also didn't know that lawn fertilizer should not be applied to garden edibles, but let's not forget how old I was. 

I took small handfuls of the fertilizer and placed them at the base of each tomato plant. Then, I watered it in. We had six tomato plants to start with. Four of them died. The other two sprouted up wildly and became large, untamed tomato plants. I thought it was cool. This tiny little stem of a plant became this large entanglement of stems and leaves and fruit buds. I didn't understand or know the need for a tomato cage or support at the time. Neither did my mother, so we didn't have one. They just....grew. 

I never ate a single tomato off of those tomato plants. It's probably better I didn't anyway because I used lawn fertilizer on a tomato plant. Oops. But I did pick one tomato. I picked it when it was still mostly green and a little red. I picked it because the animals were getting to them and if I wanted to pick a fruit and show myself what I grew, I'd have to get it before it was ripe.  Otherwise, an insect or an invasive mammal would beat me to it. We didn't know to protect the fruits. 

The tomatoes we once grew in my dad's backyard have been long gone. After I realized we weren't going to be eating any tomatoes that year, I cared for it less. Also, the hot summer made it unenjoyable to stand outside and continue watering. Interests changed. Most likely it died in the first frost that winter and didn't return after. Life got busy. 

Now, I grow my own plants. I do not sprinkle lawn fertilizer on my edibles. I support my plants with stakes and cages when needed. I have a soil moisture meter to prevent over and under watering. I pick off bugs on leaves by hand if I see them. This is my third year involved in growing. The first was research and learning from my neighbor who's a master gardener. She shared so many of the fruits of her labor with me. I saved seeds, I researched plants, I studied sun patterns around our house, and I started planning. The second, I tried germinating seeds I'd saved. That was quite an adventure. But late summer, I actually had some harvest. Although not nearly as large or tasty as grocery store peppers, it was satisfying to eat the fruit of my own labor. 

This year, I'm growing peppers from seeds I've saved over the years. I'm also growing some Thai basil from seeds I purchased last year but couldn't get to germinate. The seeds are still good - it was user error why no basil sprouted last year. I managed to get some Genovese basil seeds, saved from my neighbor, to germinate as well. 

But you know what my favorite is? My tomatoes. 

I saw this tomato plant at Costco and could not resist. It was the last tomato plant they had.
The tallest part of the stem had broken off due to mishandling probably, but I knew I could help
with the right care. It has grown beautifully. 

My cherry tomatoes. Cute and sweet, hopefully just like the fruit.

Yes, tomatoes are "easy to grow." Yes, tomatoes grow rather quickly given the right growing conditions. Yes, we eat and cook with a good number of tomatoes. But that's not what makes growing them special. My tomatoes are special because they resurfaced this memory for me after all these years. And it wasn't even that my mother gardened with me and we have memories growing tomatoes together. We didn't. 

But she was the one who said, "Let's grow some tomato plants."

This is 19.