Green Growing Things

Sorry it's been a while my dear readers! For dear you are, those who stick with me through times of drought. But I'll make up for it by including lots of pictures.

Sometime ago (May-ish?)I courageously purchase a tiny tomato plant from the Alemany Farmer's Market for my housemate, Cora; who enjoys plants, organics, and green things in general. I was stunned when we saw it shoot up about 5 inches within a week and a half. I was even more excited a couple weeks later to see a little yellow flower. It was actually working! I know I should have expected it to grow, but somehow I never expected it to work. Can you imagine how thrilled I was when that little yellow blossom became a green tomato as round as a marble? The fact that I was so excited made me wonder how much of a city girl I had become. But it is so thrilling to see a plant develop to the point that it's actually bearing fruit! Well, we waited for weeks and weeks for that li'l guy to ripen. But all he did was to go from a green marble, to a green bouncy ball, to a small-sized green golf ball. When was he going to be red??? If he had taken the trouble to grow nearly a foot since purchasing, wouldn't he take the trouble to turn red?

I must confess that I despaired of him ever ripening. We were well into September and he was still green. Then we saw a second li'l round marble right next to him! So exciting! I began to wonder if we should pluck him and his neighbor, before rotting on the vine. Surely tomatoes didn't ripen in the fall. Aren't they a summer thing?

Well, thanks to Cora's suggestion, wisdom, and patience we waited. Sure enough! One day we opened the door to the back stairwell (where the plant resides) to discover that both of our li'l guys had turned as red as red can be! At long last!

There they are!

Cora proudly shows off are crop.

We waited a while to pick them, mostly because they were our first tomatoes and it seemed almost harsh to have cared for them for so long, only to show down on them. But alack, alas, and at last we chose to harvest them to serve as the pièce de résistance that topped off our paella night.

Let me tell you, friends, those were some darn good tomatoes. They were better than any dry-farmed tomatoes from the farmer's market. They had such a robust flavor! Such color! Such character! It could have been because we accidentally dry-farmed the plant...but whatever we did (or forgot to do), it worked!

We haven't had any more tomatoes pop up, but there are a few blossoms struggling to live. But we succeeded at least once. Having done so, Cora has moved on to the next challenge:

Growing carrots (and a random citrus plant that may be grapefruit).

To conclude, I've gleaned a bit of wisdom from this experience of urban farming: When you plant a seed, expect it to grow. Care for it, nurture it, don't give up on it. Sometimes it just needs space and time, and when it's ready you'll be delighted by the bit of deliciousness you get.