Lycopersicon lycopersicum: My Gateway Plant

I think it was Monica I first heard refer to the tomato as a "gateway plant."  "Gateway" is normally used to describe a drug, like alcohol or marijuana, which causes the user to be at an increased risk to abuse other, stronger substances.  But there are a lot of us gardening geeks who bought and grew one particular plant so successfully that it led us into a fanatical gardening hobby.  We peruse gardening magazines, other people's gardens and we shop at garden centers on this adrenalin high that we don't really talk about. But we gardeners all understand it.  We have vastly different gardens both in scale and plant selection, but we all share in this plant addiction.   And the tomato is at the center of this addiction for a lot of folks, including me.

There's a reason the tomato is so many people's gateway plant.  The superior flavor of the homegrown tomato to a store bought one is widely known, even by folks who've never gardened.  The tomato is a versatile food, so people buy, cook and eat lots of them.  Plus, tomato plants are easy to get and easy to grow no matter where you live.  They're relatively disease resistant.  It's no wonder that new gardeners plant tomatoes then go on to expand their vegetable garden year after year, planting fancier and fancier stuff.  The next thing you know you're growing asparagus and artichokes!  Starting garden blogs!  All manner of things!

That's what happened to me.  My gardening hobby started with the desire to grow a few tomatoes.  But once I saw that first little yellow tomato blossom, I was hooked.  Growing those first tomatoes catapulted me into hardcore vegetable and flower gardening. I've basically landscaped our entire front and backyard, thanks to the tomato.  As far as I'm concerned, there's no better food.  And there's no better plant.

What was your gateway plant?

Wordless Wednesday: My Prettiest Tomato To Date

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First reddish tomato

Don't look now but one of the Sweet 100's is turning red!

Assessing tomatoes

I planted 5 tomato plants on May 21st - 4 different varieties.

It seems like every gardening blogger eventually shows us how full and lush their tomatoes are and this always leaves me feeling rather inferior. My tomatoes just don't look like theirs! I mean take a look at Michelle's "Tomato Safari" over at My Grandfather's Garden. What's the deal?


In my skinny tomatoes defense, it's the first time I've ever grown any and I my "soil amendement" consisted of throwing random inconsistent quantities of peat moss and potting soil in with the native dirt. I've only sprayed them with aspirin water (somebody said this boosts their natural immune system and I do think they looked better afterward) once and detergent water once (I read that this keeps down fungus after long periods of rain).


Here's the Sweet 100. It's planted on the north west corner of my kitchen garden. It has quite a few green tomatoes on it which I'm happy about. Still, it is barely out of the top level of the cage and I've realized after doing more plant shopping that my tomato cages are the smallest around. This picture makes it look kinda full in the middle but don't be fooled, that is mostly the Sweet Basil you are seeing which is planted in the background.
Here's one of my 2 Big Boys. It is planted right next to the Sweet 100. This one just now had to be staked because it was starting to droop over the top of the cage. I actually took the stake that I was using for the terminator rose because it had to be cut back so far that it no longer needed to be staked. No sign of any turning red on this one either, but the ones that are there look okay. Still not bushy though.


Here's the other not-so Big Boy. It's planted right next to the broccoli toward the north east corner of the kitchen garden. It only has 3 green tomatoes and is considerably shorter and skinnier than the other one. Doesn't it look bare?

Here's the Grape Tomato. I love this one because it has lots of itty bitty grape tomatoes that I'm really hoping will taste like the tomatoes at my favorite salad bar Treasure Island on Lake Shore Drive. None of them are turning red either but I think this one will produce quite a few delicious grape tomatoes for me. This one is planted in the middle of tomato row between Big Boy and Roma. It is the only other one that had to be staked. I know you can't see any actual tomatoes on this picture but you'll just have to take my word for it.And then there's Roma. This is probably my favorite tomato plant to watch. It's pretty low growing and I didn't stake or cage it per my mom. I like this one because it is much more bushy than the others. It has quite a few tomatoes on it but again, no sign of redness. If I remember correctly, my mom said these all ripen at the same time, which means I need to be looking for great pasta sauce recipes. I want to make my own Marinara sauce and my fantasy is that I can make enough pasta sauce to last us the entire year! I know, that's probably not reasonable since I loveeeeeeeeee spaghetti! But hey, I can always dream. I didn't show pictures of my basil and oregano plants but they are looking AWESOME and I'm hoping to use both of them for the pasta sauce.So, as you can see, my tomato plants are pretty darn puny. I keep trying to tell myself that I don't need them to be bushy and leafy and that maybe the fact that they are thinner than the others I see on blogs means mine are spending all their energy and nutrients on the fruit they are producing for me. I have considered fertilizing them with some organic stuff (they do make organic fertilizers I hear) but then I won't know what they would taste like without additives. This year, they are on their own. And if they taste fabulous I won't change anything next year. I'd rather have fewer mouth watering fruit than lots of bland ones. If they don't knock my socks off, I'll consider some changes next tomato season.

Congrats to all of you who are enjoying those delicious red tomatoes on your 4th of July burgers! I envy you.

The first food I've ever grown in my life

I am so excited I can hardly stand myself! This is a really bad picture but it's my first tomato in the making!!! It's the size of a green pea and so damn cute! This is a Sweet 100. I have personally never heard of these but my mom said they taste great and she knows how much I love tomatoes. I'm so glad I took her advice - Thanks Mom! Love ya!

I know this is so not exciting for all you seasoned gardeners but seeing this little thing that I GREW is very symbolic to me for many reason which are too personal to discuss here. But wait - there's more! This is a Red Bell Pepper. Are those little baby bell peppers???? Okay - maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I've seen no blooms on this thing yet. Does that always come first or do plants ever just bust into producing food? I have so much to learn!

Getting closer on one bed

The roses are in! It took me about 4 hours over 2 mornings to get them all planted. I'm pretty worried about them since the roots seem too big for the holes I dug. Also, the 4 on the end are basically buried in rocks. I have no clue what previous occupants of this house had goin on in that yard but as I dug the holes I kept hitting millions of rocks. It got worse as I got closer to the basketball court. We'll see how they do. Now I just need mulch and this bed is done. Exciting!

I doubt you can see this but it looks like all my tomato plants have tiny little blooms. They look kinda raggedy, otherwise. I really need mulch for my kitchen garden, too. Mom says that this black ground cover is too hot for them. I think I'm also going to try "aspirin water" on everything - I read this in some magazine. I can't even remember what it's suppose to do...