Rewards of Growing tomatoes

[duajones]

Besides the obvious of being able to eat fresh tomatoes from your own back yard, I love seeing folks take the plunge and start growing their own. And in this case all it took was giving them tomatoes like they had never seen or tasted before.
Friends of mine Mark and Jackie are growing tomatoes for the first time this year. It all started with me giving them tomatoes a couple of years ago. I gave them several varieties and usually more than one fruit of each. They were just blown away by Cherokee Purple.
I gave them some saved seed last year and although they started the seeds pretty late, now have several CP plants along with a couple storebought transplants growing in their back yard.
We talk several times a week and it is obvious that they have been bitten by the bug and it will only get worse with some success. And due to the longer spring temps we are having, their plants are coming along nicely and still have enough time for some decent fruitset. They have been amazed at how quickly the plants grow once they get started and overall are genuinely excited about their first effort. Jackie recently told me that Mark is out there checking on his plants every morning before work and again after work. And also how it has become a topic amongst the family. These folks are hooked and it makes me happy to see others growing tomatoes. I get just as excited about their plants as I do my own and really enjoyed the pics they sent me recently.
It is fun to plant a seed and watch it grow even when it is in someones mind. I am thinking that these two will be growing tomatoes for years to come because of that little seed. I love it

[jebgordon]

Duane,
Great story. I'm having the same experience with friends. I even joined my local farmers market to introduce heirloom tomatoes and peppers to the locals. Some of my customers come up to me and state they want to buy that heirloom tomato and I have to say, which one, I have over twenty varieties. Keep up the good work.
Jim

[b54red]

I too am trying to spread the word. I have given away over 200 beautiful heirloom tomato plants to varied people from my vet to my postmen. I am trying a lot of new varieties and so I planted and potted up a huge amount of extra plants because I didn't know which ones would germinate good and as a result had a huge over supply of plants. I still have well over 100 and if I don't give them away soon they will have to be discarded.

[Earl]

Duane,

Yes, it's a great pleasure to watch the surprise on someone's face when they first take a bite of one like Cherokee Purple.

Us CHOPTAGerians started the group to spread the word about heirloom tomatoes and have someone local we could get together with and talk heirlooms. I have no idea how many new folks we've influenced over these many years but I know there's been several. I consider it a "crying crime shame" for someone to have lived and not enjoyed the experience of eating an heirloom tomato. :-)

[Dukerdawg]

Amen, Earl, amen.

[bigbubbacain]

People just don't understand the religious-like fervor that can develop unless they have grown or eaten an amazingly great tomato! A friend of mine once likened my interest to that of a cult, a seemingly harmless one. He suggested I hang out at the airport and pass out heirloom plants the way some devotees hand out a flower and a pamphlet.

I assume this tomato "cult" is harmless...... I have yet to sell all my belongings for a questionable cause, and I haven't turned purple from eating too many Indian Stripes.

Alas, it's still early in the season. Give me time.

[TomatoDon]

He's confusing "cult" with having a healthy passion. Having a healthy passion to be actively engaged in is one factor in happiness and an overall sense of well being. Doesn't matter what it is....gardening, quilting, writing, walking, doing volunteer work for the less fortunate, and so on. To me, gardening combines the most satisfying elements of the really good stuff. It brings you closer to the heartbeat of Mother Nature, getting you out for old fashioned exercise, getting you in the sun, the pleasure of nurturing something along and watching it grow and produce, sharing your bounty with family, friends, and neighbors...countless reasons why gardening is so good for us. The physical and emotional benefits are without measure.

DS

[bigbubbacain]

Originally Posted by TomatoDon

He's confusing "cult" with having a healthy passion. Having a healthy passion to be actively engaged in is one factor in happiness and an overall sense of well being. Doesn't matter what it is....gardening, quilting, writing, walking, doing volunteer work for the less fortunate, and so on. To me, gardening combines the most satisfying elements of the really good stuff. It brings you closer to the heartbeat of Mother Nature, getting you out for old fashioned exercise, getting you in the sun, the pleasure of nurturing something along and watching it grow and produce, sharing your bounty with family, friends, and neighbors...countless reasons why gardening is so good for us. The physical and emotional benefits are without measure.

DS

Well, yes, that's what I really meant. I was trying to make light of the fact that the uninitiated usually don't understand just what it means to be so passionate about tomatoes. I've taken more than my share of ribbing about my interest in tomatoes and the tomato-related things I go out of my way to do. I truly hope I didn't ruffle any feathers with my "cult" remark.

[lycopene]

To add to the reasons Tomatodon mentioned, this hobby also saves me a ton of money from buying good tomatoes at the farmer's market at up to $4/lb. And also it's something fun my DH and I can do together.

I know people who garden but don't grow tomatoes because they think it's too hard. I gave them some extra seedlings this year and a simple "how to" note, maybe they'll change their mind.

[sfmathews]

I worked at the Dallas Organic Club Plant sale this past Saturday. One of the guys, Mike, grows all his own seedlings for this sale. He brought around 125 heirloom tomato plants. By noon they were gone. I think people were just excited to see something besides a hybrid.

[TomatoDon]

No problem, I knew what you meant Bubba.

I'm on my way this afternoon to visit my Amish friends that are about 45 minutes away, to see their tomato seedlings and probably get a few. There are several families there that grow tomatos and seedlings, and they have thousands. It's really fascinating to see their green houses and how they raise all this and I'd post a picture, but that is not allowed in their culture. No pictures, and the children can't even have dolls....both are considered "graven images," which is prohibited in Old Testament law.

Then over to Tupelo for a look around, and then over to our friend "Fusion's" nursery across the state line in Alabama. Cool and cloudy here with a chance of rain. Probably our last cool snap and this will be a good afternoon to get out and about in search of seedling varieties I don't have. AND to visit tomato friends!

DS

[TomatoDon]

Got home at 9 pm with some nice plants from the Amish and got an assorted tray from our friend Darrell. Yes, I got Purple Haze! And a BeefyWine.

DS

[duajones]

It is addictive once you get started no doubt. I love hearing/reading about others efforts in growing their own food no matter what it is.

[huntoften]

It's so good to see folks knowing what a tomato is supposed to taste like and look like! When they first try heirlooms and other OP's, they are a bit put off by cracking, catfacing, and all the other weird things these plants do and they instead focus on TASTE!

No one even talks about Better Boy and Early Girl anymore...they talk Cherokee Puple, Branywine Sudduth's , Black Cherry, Opalka, and on and on...diversity is a wonderful thing!