Sunday, April 26, 2015

My Tomato Growing Experience


Being a small town girl growing up, I never had any association with gardens - vegetable that is.  So, I must relay this story to you about my tomato garden several years ago.

Before John started traveling so much, he always had a garden.  He loved to putter away in the heat and get all dirty pulling weeds.  Me - not so much.

As the years went on, I craved good-old home grown tomatoes.  About this time, one of the major magazines came out with an article on how to grow perfect tomatoes in a halved whiskey barrel.

So, I read up on all the things to do, what kind of soil to use, what kind of fertilizer, etc. and announced to John that I was going to grow tomatoes all on my own.

He nodded and said - OK Honey!

He went with me to the local store and I bought the half whiskey barrel, soil, fertilizer and tomato plants.

Now, what I didn't know was that you needed space.  I planted 18 tomato plants in my little barrel - barely 24" across.

Within a few weeks, I had a tomato forest!  I ask John why he didn't tell me that I didn't need that many plants and he just chuckled and said - remember, you wanted to do it on your own.

So, this year, I planted two plants.  Imagine my delight this morning when I had yellow blooms.  I was so excited.


My two plants have grown really fast.


I have them staked and fertilized.

Now, for the rest of the story......

John came home one weekend and I was preparing supper (back when I did cook) and I told him to go out and pick some tomatoes for the salad.  He replied that we didn't have any.  I said - just go check.

I had bought a box of cherry tomatoes and had hot-glued them all over my little forest of plants.

We laughed about that for years.  Hopefully, this year will be better.


I planted around my little Weeping Cherry Tree with Sweet Potato Vine.  The green and silver stuff just came up from last year.  Don't know what it is.  But, it's pretty.


Planted a pot of bright green Sweet Potato Vine.  If I put that in my back yard which gets alot of sun, it just goes crazy.  Remember last year??


The Sweet Potato Vine literally took over under the little tree.


Lastly, I found this beautiful glass solar light at Home Depot.  Can't wait until we have a little sun to activate it.

Enjoy!

Judy  





30 comments:

  1. It all looks beautiful! Love your story about gluing the tomatoes onto the plants. Sounds like somthing I would have done! If you have a good crop this year, you can box those up and send them to OKC! XO

    ReplyDelete
  2. Judy Your tomato tale made me laugh. I can't believe you took the time to stick them on.I have only got a couple of tomato plants in the greenhouse so hopefully that will do.
    Rosezeeta.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are so fun to do your tomato trick! The solar light is pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You've lemon balm and mint for starters. Probably came off of something from my place if you didn't plant it.
    Brenda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I think you probably gave me starters for them. I didn't realize that they would come back year after year.

      Judy

      Delete
  5. Judy, I love your tomato stories. Thank you for a beautiful memory of you and you sweet John. I would have loved seeing his face with the hot glued tomatoes. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am laughing at your story about the glued on tomatoes, Judy. That is something I would do. lol What a sweet warm memory to have. I got ONE tomato off my huge tomato plant last year and the something "got it" before I did. I think I will be visiting the farmer's market instead this year. LOVE sweet potato vines. One of my favorite fillers. xo Diana

    ReplyDelete
  7. Funny story. :)
    My courtyard does not get enough sun for tomato plants, so look forward to local ones when available at markets, road stands, etc.,here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Judy! Thanks for sharing your tomatoes garden adventures with us. The part about glueing the cherry tomatoes to your own plants made me laughed a lot. Thanks and take care,
    Arlette

    ReplyDelete
  9. The only veggie I grow is tomatoes, just nothing like fresh just picked ones! i laughed at how any tomatoes plants you put in that containers...it would of been like a tomato forest. then you glued tomatoes on that was pretty clever of you. Have a great night!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ah Judy what a sweet story. I can't believe you glued tomatoes to your plant. How funny:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Judy! Oh, I love the story of John gluing on the tomatoes. What a guy! Good luck with your tomatoes. There is nothing like a home grown tomato! Thanks for popping in to see me.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shelia - actually, I was the one who glued the tomatoes onto the plants.

      Delete
  12. That's such a funny story! If you have flowers, you should get them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a great story - I wold have loved to see John's face when he found the tomatoes. What a wonderful memory to have and chuckle about.m I love home grown tomatoes and have planted 5 plants and I do have green tomatoes on them.

    Normally it's birds or rats that eat the tomatoes. Your tomatoes look good and hopefull you will have some ripe ones soon.
    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  14. That cherry tomato story is so funny! Last year I planted two patio tomatoes and we had lots of wonderful tomatoes. Now I'm spoiled and don't like any of the tomatoes I've been buying at the store. I can hardly wait to get them growing again this year.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Funny, funny story, Judy, about the hot glued tomatoes! Love that you are trying it again! There is nothing as tasty as home grown tomatoes! Cute solar light, I thought it was a hummingbird feeder! Enjoy your week! Blessings, Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love tomatoes and haven't grown any myself in a few years. Good luck with your plants. Your yard is looking good!
    hugs,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  17. f tried a tomato plant two years ago but I just bought the foot tall version that looked pretty healthy. I looked like it was going to take off and then died. Obviously I need to do some research. Congrats on being smart enough to read what to do first.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I hope that your tomatoes grow really well for you this year and that they bring back some great memories for you too. xx

    ReplyDelete
  19. Gardening for veggies & fruit is always so fulfilling, although I'm skipping on that for this summer, I love to see how people are doing with theirs!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ha Ha Judy what a sweet memory about gluing the tomatoes. How fun. Have a great week.
    Kris

    ReplyDelete
  21. Great story of your tomato "forest" and hot glued cherry tomatoes! I really laughed... it's wonderful to have memories of our loved ones that give us a little chuckle! I've found that one tomato plant in a plastic tub grows wonderfully and yields tons of tomatoes.. they love the warmth of the sun on their roots inside the plastic. And you DO get spoiled once you've eaten home grown.. never want those store bought ones again! You are so lucky to have blooms already. Here in central Oregon we can't even plant anything yet! Enjoy those yummies.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I was actually laughing out loud at your tomato stories! You are too funny, Judy. We still won't be able to plant tomatoes here for another 2-3 more weeks. I can't wait! There's nothing better than fresh tomatoes.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Judy, oh I love this story of the glued on tomatoes. You are too funny!! Yes, the potato vine is already growing like crazy here too. I planted both the green and purple. I love the flower the purple makes.
    Have a nice week.
    Hugs, CM

    ReplyDelete
  24. LOVE tomatoes and I SO understand the excitement of the first blooms:) Mine are blooming too! SO funny about the glued tomatoes, I almost spit my coffee out:) Have a blessed day dear friend! BIG HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love this story, so funny. Hope you have your own tomatoes for lunch this year, is there anything more wonderful than eating food that you grew yourself?
    Amalia
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  26. I wish you luck on those tomatoes. I planted two plants and they got gigantic, but then rapidly died off with some sort of stem rot, however one had two little branches growing low on the stem and they have now grown into this big tomato plant bush. I has some ripening as I write this!
    Hugs,
    Meredith

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...