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Health & Fitness

Growing Tomatoes Is a Competative Sport

Ah, that first bite of tomato just picked from your garden ... it tastes of sun and home.

There's an old adage that for the best tomatoes, plant Easter week. When I was growing up, I wondered, what if you aren't Christian? Don't atheists want to eat tomatoes? And the date changes every year so how can that work successfully? What about the weather? If there is a frost that week will it still work? And why does Jesus even care when my tomatoes go in? He doesn't need them for the resurrection... You can see my parents had their hands full with me.

For a suburban dweller, nothing beats the taste of a home grown tomato. They command a high price when bartering with neighbors for their over-producing vegetable plants. You never hear some one say "I just have too many tomatoes this year!" but you might hear about zucchinis left to grow to the size of a submarine because they couldn't use them all fast enough.

The very first spring I lived in a house, my neighbors asked if I had planted yet. Planted what? Give me a clue or segue please. Of course they were speaking of tomatoes. Dutifully, I plopped a couple of plants in the ground. That first year they died within days. Note to self: water helps. The next year a neighbor came over with a few seedlings. Clearly she thought I needed help growing tomatoes when in fact I just didn't know it was a competition. Let it be known, I like to compete. So rather than planting the pity plants bestowed on me, I dove into the sport.

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First I had to consider the soil. The dirt in the areas without landscaping  in my yard are akin to cement that only a pick ax could dent. Second, the light. My yard has a number of large beautiful trees. All lovely for bird-feeders to hang from or to produce fruit, but it left few places with full sun for growing. So I purchased the largest containers I could find along with some premium soil. I was almost gloating and hadn't even planted yet.

Then I started shopping around for my plants, no patiently waiting for seedlings to develop for me, back then. Over the years I have discovered that tomato plants are quite price driven in their quality. A nursery can easily pass on a bacteria or fungus through the plants that can and will affect your other vegetables. But that first year I just knew I wanted the largest plants I could find, preferably already blooming. I found them, but oh the cost.

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Needless to say those first tomatoes easily cost $10 a piece. It was well worth it when seeing my neighbor's astonished face at the quantity and quality of my fruit. Uh, you should probably not mention that cost part to my husband.

Since then I've perfected my tomato production. I now know that the cherry size, sun-gold, yellow pear, and grape varieties will adapt to container gardening the best with a high yield from a small space. I've added a "Wall of Water" that acts like a hot house, to protect my young plants and hasten their growth regardless of if I plant near Easter.  I now produce cost effective plants from that early investment, to help feed the household summer and autumn.

Today as I lovingly fed and watered my vegetables, I found myself staring at them as if I could simply will them to grow. I'm impatient for fresh salads from the garden. Not only do they taste good, they also provide a sense of home.

And when my neighbor leaned over the hedge to ask when I planted, I thought to myself, ha ha, I'm going to win again!

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