My Summer Garden

After seven years of trying to grow tomatoes, I think I have found what works in my yard. This year, I planted cherry tomatoes, and regular tomatoes in large, plastic storage bins (like Rubbermaids) full of topsoil. They actually thrived. The two plants in my flowerbed were not happy this year. I had to pull one out early July, and the remaining one gave me one tomato.

It probably did not help that we were away more than three weeks over the course of the summer. It rained during our August absence. We also left the beginning of July, during a heat wave. My whole garden was just starting to bloom, and look great when we left, but it turned into a scragly mess. My coneflowers were tall, and skinny. Many of my plants did not survive this week of neglect. My peas all fried, just as they were starting to produce pods. This was the first year I planted the peas early. In fact, I was almost too early as we had frost at the beginning of June.

My bin tomatoes were another story. They were doing fine, and by mid August, I had more tomatoes than I had ever seen in my garden. Unfortunately, just as the cherry tomatoes were starting to ripen, we were leaving home for another two weeks. I offered up my garden to friends, but most people have tomatoes of their own, with much better harvest yields.

Imagine my surprise when most of the cherry tomatoes were still on the plant, and looking great. Keep in mind, August was a cooler and wetter month. However, neglect appears to have worked this year. My regular tomatoes are not as large as my mother in laws'. She could feed two families with one of her tomatoes. But, mine are a nice red, blemish free, and very tasty. The cherry tomatoes were super sweet. I am the only family member who eats tomatoes raw, so I got to enjoy all of them. Yum!

Maybe next year, I will be a little kinder to my garden, and hire someone to water it while we are away. My mom used to have a massive vegetable garden when we lived in Manitoba, and we often took long summer vacations. She must have asked the neighbours to water her plants. I guess we need to get to know our neighbours, but that is another post!

After two weeks of neglect

Now that September has arrived, I have to worry about frost again. We had frost last night, but I think my bins are in a location where I do not have to worry. At least, they looked okay this afternoon. I really hope there is not a second frost tonight, but looking at the clear sky, the temperature is probably going to drop. Ugh! Barely three months of a growing season.

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