Grumbleeze

We've had many gardens over the years. Why did we quit planting gardens? ...mostly because whenever we planted tomatoes and other veggies critters would get to them before we did. With beans, lettuce and even Chinese peapods, the bunnies are there while the young plants are tiny and juicy. Tomatoes were just invitations to the big ugly green squashy tomato worms, slugs and an occasion four-legged critter.

This year, tired of summers with only store-bought cardboard tomatoes on my table, I wanted a garden again. I finally found the solution... gardening in pots! We purchased tomato plants in pots already beginning to produce. I did, however, transplant them into larger pots. We have one of each - a pot of cherry tomatoes, Italian plum tomatoes and a large variety... actually two of these but we planted one in the ground where we see results of critters chewing on the tomatoes while they are still green. The Italian tomato plant had a variety of herbs included in the pot, including two kinds of sweet basil - a standard green and ruffled purple.

We started eating tomatoes in June and just yesterday I reaped my first crop of plum tomatoes. With 9 succulent tomatoes I was able to prepare a recipe of Sharlene's Fresh Tomato Sauce. Mmmmmmm! I did not use parsley but had some pesto I'd whipped up with the purple ruffled basil. It was delicious!!!

What did I learn about growing tomatoes in pots? Next year my pots will be twice as big... thus providing more room for soil and less watering days per pot. I'm sure they'll have sales on pots at the end of summer, don't you think?