My tomato crop this year was a complete failure. We had great expectations, too. The summer started off great - 70 heirloom tomato plants that I started from seed, planted with loving care by Mr. Bechtel and the family, complete with drip line and weed barrier. We even put little arches of pvc pipe over the rows with expensive frost protection fabric to keep them warm and safe from the wind. We should have had a bumper crop.
Unfortunately, we have dogs now: Jack and Pete. Jack is obsessed with chasing dust and spent the whole summer digging up my garden and chasing the dust right through my tomato rows. Pete thought the fabric was a neat new toy and tore it off on about the 3rd day. I kept hoping though. By the end of august we still didn't have any tomatoes. I inspected and every plant was broken off and ruined. There were a few that managed to survive, but the chickens ate the fruit off them before we could get to it. The chickens even ate all the hot peppers I planted for salsa. It was very sad.
So I was thrilled when Spencer (Braeburn's friend) brought me over 2 big boxes of tomatoes from his mom. His mom has a wonderful green thumb, an amazing green house, and is a REAL gardener.
Granny Smith helped me make salsa, chili sauce, and home made ketchup. We haven't tried the ketchup yet. It seems strange to get it out of a glass jar somehow!
2 comments:
Now that we've moved far away from my parents and my source of fresh produce I'm trying to decide if I could possibly grow a garden...unfortunately here in arizona we'd need planter boxes etc. But still, fresh "real" tomatoes are just the BEST! I'm glad that despite your setbacks you were able to have tomatoes to can.
We'll try again this year. Maybe we'll even build a durable green house.
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