We have tried in the past to heed the council of the prophets to plant a garden and to be prepared. Our first real attempt was while we were in Pennsylvania and we tried, so hard, to nourish our little tomato plants all summer long. We weeded, watered, and weeded some more. By the time they matured enough to produce the fruit, we were so excited to see a little red against the green. Unfortunately, at the bottom of those beautiful little tomatoes, they were rotten. We did however, produce a giant cucumber, but only one.We tried again when we lived in Washington. We found what we thought would be a great place to plant a garden, but I'm not even sure those little green plants lasted more than a few days (something about uranium in those parts?). End of story.
Or maybe not?
We decided to give it a try, once again here in Illinois. 3rd time's the charm, right? We had a great little garden plot ready to go once the snow melted. After I got to know our urban farmer of a neighbor, she reassured my planning efforts of our garden. We decided on a few tomato plants, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, zucchini, and watermelon. So, we planted. And waited. And watered. And weeded. And waited a little longer.
Then, all of the sudden our tomato plants (3 in all, one being a cherry tomato plant) sprang to life. They started to grow, and grow, and grow, and wouldn't stop. The plants got so big that they overtook their cages (wasn't that the purpose of the cage?) and ended up building a bigger, and better, support system for the ginormous vegetables. Then the tomatoes came. Thousands of them. (Maybe not thousands, but lots.) Our pepper plant also came to life and started to produce. The cucumber plant started to grow huge and viney (is that even a word?) with lots of yellow blossoms on it. So far so good.
It's not like we didn't have any obstacles in our way. The rabbits tried the jalapeno once. Just once.
After a few more weeks of waiting our harvest has begun. And guess what?
This time it worked!
This is what they looked like about 3 weeks ago.**Yes, the picture at the top of the post is from our garden.**
8 comments:
Wow! Great pictures! I thought for sure you found the top one on the web! Impressive! Your garden is HUGE! Way to go!
pretty amazing!! we may ask for pointers from you next spring! enjoy your home-grown produce... that looks delish!
WOW! THat's great!
Although, I have to say that Eastern WA gardens have been the biggest I've ever seen in my life. BUT, you have to be the queen of watering... just exactly the right amount at the right time, which is SO not me! I forget to water for days... luckily, on the west side of the state, we can do that!
Woohoo!!! It's a big 'ol freakin' jungle! You should throw a hamemade salsa party!!
Yay! Congrats! I'm glad it worked out for you...I just wish we were there to help you enjoy the fresh salsa!
Wow! Way to garden! I'm jealous I can't come over to enjoy some yummy home made salsa!
That looks gorgeous! I'm timidly trying to garden this year, with just a few herbs, but next year I'm growing tomatoes. That's all I want--good tomatoes. I'm very impressed yours turned out so well!
Your tomatoes look delicious!
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