tomatoes tend to babble

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have you grown tired of my babbling on about plants yet? sorry. i am just so happy to have things growing after so long a break from my garden & farm. that, & the fact that i would much rather babble on about my plants, than about my frighteningly filthy home. not that i am admitting to the filth, mind you.

this babble is about my tomatoes. i love seeing tomatoes growing on their vines. it screams of summer. this year i am even more in love with the sight, as last summer i could not eat tomatoes. long story. i just wish i did not so dislike the smell of the plant's leaves. blech.

the above plant is a better boy. we have eaten these from friends' farms, but never have tried growing this variety ourselves. the plant is indeterminate, meaning it has the ability to get up to 10-feet tall. well, long, really. tomato plants don't grow thick trunks, so in nature would not get tall. they would grow across the ground. it raises the risk of disease & infestation to grow it that way, hence the tradition of growing tomatoes in cages, & up structures. this one is being trained up a tall shutter. i have it held up with twine, but need to replace it as soon as possible. the twine is too harsh for the vine. i like to use stocking, cut into rings, instead.

these are the container tomatoes i told you about not too long ago. sorry i don't have the link for that post handy. the variety is patio bush, i think. it is determinate, meaning its size is set, creating a shorter, bushy plant. this specific one is meant to grow in a large container, so will be smaller than the average determinate tomato. though the plant itself will stay small, the fruit is full-sized. & look how prolific it is! there are already more fruits on this than on the larger better boy. we have grown this one in past summers, & hope to do so in the future. i may save seeds from this plant, i love it so.

there is a third tomato growing, a cherry. i am not sure which kind of cherry tomato it is, because i lost the marker that came with it. i only purchased the plant last week, so there was no fruit to photograph. thehobbit loves the tiny tomatoes best. when we had a plot in a community garden it was the only tomato we grew. he would just sit (he was a little thing at the time) next to the plant, picking the fruit, & popping it into his mouth. i doubt either manlyman or i ever had more than a handful ourselves. he was not nicknamed thehobbit for nothing!

thank you for allowing me to babble on about my maters. do you have a favorite?

~peace.