Grow Write Guild No. 8 - The Essence of Summer

To me the plant that best encapsulates summer is one I recently had to say goodbye to - tomatoes.  Each year I am getting better at growing them, but I seem to make some pretty big mistakes every time I try to grow them.  This year I started my seeds about a month later than I should have, and it really showed in the final product.

These four tiny yellow tomatoes were some of the five that actually ripened on the vine.  (If you look closely you can see the tiny bite mark from where Little Forager taste tested one.)  The rest I picked early since every night threatens to frost and I don't have enough blankets or sheets to cover the tender summer vines.  

I was pretty sad while I pulled up the plants since they were looking like some of the best I had ever grown.  If I had started them on time I would have had so much fruit!  Next year I am determined that I will get a better start on my tomato plants.  This year as it is I managed to get just over 3 kilograms of unripe fruit that thankfully I had an interesting pie recipe to try them in.  I love everything about growing tomatoes.  Their flowers are adorable, and their fruit is delicious.  One of my favourite things to do in the garden is to brush the foliage and enjoy the entrancing smell wafting through the summer air. 

I was surprised to find this tiny volunteer tomato (pictured below) that came up from my compost pile and actually started to form some tomatoes!  None of them ripened in time, but I was still surprised to see them.  This area is so perfect for growing tomatoes that you don't even have to actually plant them yourself for them to grow.  My friend even had one volunteer in a crack in her driveway!