Two Ton Tomato

The Van Pelt Gardens have seen its share of successes this growing season. We had bushels of plums which found their way into jam jars to stretch out their enjoyment. Our herbs haven't seen as much success, but we did manage to sprinkle some fresh cilantro on some tacos the other night and a pinch of basil with some mozzarella cheese. But its our tomatoes that make this story noteworthy. I may have mentioned this plant before, it adopted us, we didn't plant it. Right before the October fires of '07 was when we had our landscaping redone. We had several spots in the yard that were left unplanted, waiting until spring. Well the winds we experienced in October which brought on the horrible wild fires also brought lots of seeds into our yard. We had uninvited ice plant growing around the mailbox, odd/unknown flowers in the side yard, and this tomato plant next to my bedroom window. Last summer it gave us a few tastey treats but this summer it really started strutting it stuff. First I caged it in Chicken Wire to keep it off the sidewalk, then I donated a patio chair to the cause to keep the branches off the ground, then another chair and finally a trellis to support it as it grew up the wall into the roofline. It keeps growing, and keeps making delicious tomatoes, most of which are cherry tomatoes except for the occasional mutant Two Ton-er which we keep our eye on daily. Our first "gargie", as Logan calls them, is finally ripe. CELEBRATE! Who knew so much joy could come from a big home-grown tomato... bring on the mozzarella!