The First Harvest

Okay…drum roll. Ceremoniously, we clipped the first tomato and bowed to our royal queen, the tallest of the two “girls.” The little yellow orb was like a piece of organic gold…only edible.

We took tomato #1 to the kitchen, rinsed and dried it. We placed it in the center of our small bamboo cutting board and measured it—pretty tiny at about 7/8th of an inch in diameter, but so beautiful.

We haven’t brought ourselves to cut it open yet, though. Maybe tonight.

The Tomato Connection

Since my March layoff, I have become the proud parent of two “girls.” We met in May when I adopted them at a local garden center. It was love…and salivation…at first sight and in anticipation of the first bite.

Two small plants came home with me that day—both of which will eventually produce scrumptious cherry tomatoes, both red and yellow. My “girls,” as I call them, spent their first night tucked into two large patio pots in rich organic soil, staked for stability when they grew tall enough to need it. I surrounded them with companions: a ring of brilliant orange marigolds. Nearby, I also installed sweet and Thai basil plants to watch over their fruit-producing wards and fend off those nasty, disgusting and destructive tomato hornworms. Welcome to my deck garden.

Our deck gets just enough sun—about six hours a day when the weather permits it—to thrive. The rooflines in our townhouse community and several mature trees make the sun weave a patchwork of daytime glow that differs on each deck down the line. In the early morning, the sun hits only the right back corner. Then it bathes the center most of the mid-day, leaving a small sunny patch on the left outside corner for about an hour until it leaves our deck for the day around 4 p.m. The “girls” get the best of it, moving from one spot to another because, well, I have the time and I’m here.