Tomatoes

It has been raining steadily since June began. Which is typical. This morning dawned bright and fair, however so The Neighbor and I went off to Fremont Gardens to buy tomato plants.

Of course, Fremont Gardens being the sort of seductive nursery that it is I also bought 2 Anaheim peppers, 3 basil plants and some little petunia-like flowers for a pot that lives on the front porch.

Anyone who gardens knows that a tomato grown yourself tastes nothing like a tomato purchased in a store. It doesn't matter if the tomato is an organic heirloom variety...if it has been in a truck and on a shelf for any length of time it is not going to have that essence that a tomato lover lives for.

I used to grow my tomato from seed. The only problem with that was that I had way more plants than I could put into the ground. I'd have dozens and dozens of plants to give away. Plus, there would only be a couple of varieties.

I have a small kitchen garden. I don't need 20 roma plants. So I started buying tomato starts (from Fremont Gardens...always) and have been very happy with the results (when I remember to water and generally tend to the plants).

This year's varieties:

Purple Cherokee (I do love the darker varieties of tomato)
Green Zebra
Bloody Butcher (what the fark kinda name is that for a tomato? It just screamed "Plant me!")
Sweet Million (a cherry tom...'cause you gotta have at least one)

I also planted some basil because tomatoes love basil and I do, too.

This was a Cat Weekend for us...but plugging a few toms into the gorgeous black earth of the potagers didn't seem like work. Plus, the gardens immediately began to look fruitful, even though everything else buried therein is a few weeks away from popping.

Dig the completely groovy curved bamboo that I found for staking the tomatoes. I usually just plug in a straight stick and tie them up as they grow. These curvy beauties will act as tomato cages but look far more cool in the process. I dig them.