my tomatoes (m)

My mother's mother had a beautiful little vegetable garden.  Every summer, I would help her take care of it.  I remember the large green beans and the "snap" when they came off the pods, the cucumbers with the really prickly skins and seedless insides, the gorgeous tomatoes with the sun beating down on them as they ripened to a sensuous red color, and the rows of fresh basil which smelled like Heaven to me (once, I pretended to be a bride with a bunch of basil as my bouquet).  There were scallions and onions and corn on the cob and zucchini.  Nonnie even had her own peach tree which bore the sweetest peaches which we would eat sitting on her porch; the lesser ones would be cut up and put into a large glass of red wine as a type of sangria.  I would sneak a few of these out of the glass late at night.  This is how I first tasted wine.  It hasn't been the same since.

The harvested vegetables would supply us for the entire summer and early fall.  Soups, stews, pesto, sauces, tomato salads with cucumbers, scallions on grilled steak.  It was a feast with the freshest ingredients that forever set the standard of excellence for what food should taste like.

I think this is why I harbor romantic notions of growing my own vegetable garden.  It connects me to the grandmother I loved more than anything and to the pleasures of food done authentically.

I bought a tomato plant at Costco this year.  For just $10.99, you got a large plant, in a pot, with the cage to support the growing plant.  I had high hopes for this plant.

I took it home and kept it by my back porch where it got full sun and was near the garden hose so I could be sure to water it every day.

My mother came over one day and told me to get it out of the pot and plant it in the ground so it had room to grow.  I asked the landscapers to do it and they were eager to oblige (I give them lots of water and Gatorade and fresh fruit and cookies). 

For a few weeks, I noticed the plant didn't grow that much.  I walked over to it one day and saw that they had planted it in the ground....but kept it in the pot. Ugh.

Well, I left it there.  So while the plant is churning out tomatoes like crazy, they are on the smallish side.  I took a few in last week and waited a day for them to fully ripen.  Then came the moment of truth....what would they taste like?  I cut one open and took a bite.  Gorgeous.  I was so excited.

Here's how I've used my tomatoes thus far:

-sliced some up for a sandwhich (turkey for me, tuna for my mother and husband)
-cut some in cubes for a tomato and cucumber salad that Sam and Harrison ate and loved
-put some on a green salad which we all ate and appreciated

I feel like an Earth Mother.  Next year, I'm going all out....I plan to buy three plants from Costco and take them out of the pots before I plant them in the ground.