My Food Life

A month or two ago I inherited two Better Boy tomato plants from my boyfriend, who works at a local grocery co-op. I believe they had overstocked the plants and were giving the less healthy extras away that weren't selling.

Armed with two large pots and rich soil, I planted the tomatoes and hoped for the best. I didn't know much about growing tomatoes until mid-way through their major growth spurt, so I have them staked rather awkwardly and haphazardly. But I'm trying to ignore the embarrassingly poor stake-job since I have 5 tomatoes growing, at this point at least, rather successfully.

I've learned that these tomatoes take ~70 days to harvest from planting time, and that they are sortof an average but pretty resilient red tomato variety. A few websites have suggested that they are a medium to large size, juicy yet meaty, and good for fresh slicing. (...is this making anyone else want a tomato sandwich?)

One thing I'm not familiar with is why some tomato plants take longer to yield fruit than others. These were growing and planted for what seemed like a long time before I saw any sign of tomatoes growing. It will be interesting to try other varieties next summer and see how they grow in comparison.

Gardening, especially tomatoes, runs in my family. My father's father made his living thanks to tomatoes; he grew up in a farming family, and I believe one of their biggest sales were tomatoes. He began his own company by selling them out of a back of a truck, and this grew into a wholesale produce business that my father runs today. My mother's father is also from a farming family, and has a green thumb to be rivaled. Even though I never had any interest in farming or gardening growing up, I'm suddenly finding it to be a completely intriguing, challenging, and rewarding hobby.

My tomatoes are obviously still young, so I'm hoping I'll be able to bring them to harvest without any problems. I've never had full sun and a warm climate available to successfully raise tomatoes, so maybe this time will be different! Wish me luck!