Down the Garden Path

The weather has been wonderful the last few days. After too long a hiatus I finally made it into my garden. I spent four hours just dead heading perennials and roses and then tying up tomatoes. I can't believe that I might actually get to harvest tomatoes. I planted mine out very late so they are all still green. I'm amazed that they made it past the flower stage. If the weather stays mild I'll taste garden fresh tomatoes this season. Each plant only has a few tomatoes but they are all heirloom tomatoes so I have high expectations. As I tied the skinny tomatoe stems to bamboo posts I wondered if their is a particular kind of self-righteousnesss that comes from planting heirloom vegtables. This was no bumper crop but I was definitely excited by the outcome. I remembered the words of writer Jamaica Kincaid who wrote about how much she enjoyed her few heirloom tomatoes each year; and wondered how anyone could enjoy tomatoes that looked just like the ones from the store and whose only distinction was that they were grown at home. Is this a type of snobbery? Are we tomato connaiseurs or are we truly enjoying a little known pleasure. I believe it is the latter and hope that some day the pleasure of home grown heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables can be appreciated by more people.

I am not an orderly gardener. As you can tell from the photo I like a wild somewhat self sufficient garden. (One writer refers to this type as a gin and tonic gardener - in my case make that a mango martini or margerita.) I didn't get a chance to photograph the veggies but just try to imagine tomato plants surrounded by squash vines, forget-me-nots and greens.