I had a new approach to growing tomatoes this year, namely: try everything. I planted a dozen plant starts from the nursery in our two wicking beds in January. I also started several in pots, and one pot from seeds I’d saved. And I had two pots of tomatoes that didn’t produce a single fruit last year, but made it through the summer and were ready for another try.
They are all doing well. We are swimming in tomatoes that truly ruin us for the rest of the year, they are so delicious. I’ve put away 12 quarts of tomato sauce (that I’ve been sharing with friends and neighbors) and have been reluctantly handing out small plastic bags of these golden beauties. (Reluctantly because while a small plastic bag of tomatoes may not look like much, it is the equivalent of years of work coming to fruition.)
Two significant things changed from years prior:
- I am here. All the time, I am here. I water, prune, and baby these plants every day.
- We visited an alpaca farm last summer in Prescott Valley; one of the weirdest and most exciting souvenirs I’ve ever brought home from a trip: a giant bag of alpaca fertilizer. The rancher told us it was gold for a garden because the pH won’t burn plants. Reader, I think that $5 was perhaps the best money I’ve spent in the last year. Any time we are in the area, we’ll be buying more. (Aren’t you sorry you didn’t marry me? Related: my husband is a trouper. He didn’t blink and eye when I told him we’d be spending the next two hours in the car with a 20 pound bag of animal feces.)
This week we’re enjoying tomatoes in tacos, meatball subs, quesadillas, and I’ll make homemade pizza this weekend. I may not have the farm I always dreamed of, but we are definitely making the most of this urban garden life.
Also, I think I’ve grown out of my need for chickens. I spent 15 years wanting chickens and now that I have a dog that needs a 5 mile walk daily and constant attention, I cannot fathom having one more animal to care for, clean after, and feed. I would still like to find a local duck/chicken egg producer to buy from regularly. I can find them at the farmers’ market, but we don’t go every week and we eat a lot of eggs.
What are you growing?