Tomato Dreams

Yesterday the Ottawa Gardener wrote about trading tomato seed. I've been debating what to do with my tomatoes this year. Should I buy transplants from Verrill Farm like I did last year? They have thirty varieties to choose, including lots of heirlooms. Or should I play with my seed? Isn't playing lots more fun?

I saved seed from last year's Sungold plants. Sungold is an F1 hybrid, which means it won't come true from seed. Usually. I've been told by the Seedman that sometimes the seed companies have already stabilized it while still calling it a hybrid. And then again, sometimes not.

This year I'm going to grow that seed and see what I get. I could get lots of Sungolds, which would be yummy, but fairly boring. They could be red or yellow . They could be large or small. Or I could get something tasteless and diseased. I haven't yet looked into tomato genetics so I'm not sure what which genes are recessive. But it will be fun to find out and even more fun to see what turns up on the plants.

And before you think that I have a chance of not getting any yummy garden tomatoes to eat next year, just know that I have a fabulous farm nearby - Wilson's Farm. In August and September they sell their tomatoes, which taste like real ripe picked garden tomatoes, in heaping gallon containers for just 2 for $10. They are hard to beat. My garden tomatoes don't taste any better than theirs. In addition I still have some Busa Bucks to spend next year. So I can go pick some real Sungolds or Black Cherry tomatoes if I really need them.

Garden Magic

We walk around everyday in our mundane life, doing things we have done so many times in the past. Too many times we go around in a daze and don't really notice life anymore. When we look closely at things or really experience them, they transform into magical moments. Simple things like weeding can be transcendent experiences if you put your mind on what you are doing. You feel the weeds grab onto the soil as you yank them out. You feel the change you are making in the plants you leave behind. You feel connected to it all.

Common Whitetail female on a row cover

Then there are weeks like this one, when it takes little effort to see the magic in the world. This week the fairies and dragons came back into my yard. The dragons are fierce protectors. They don't breath fire, but they do eat my mosquitoes. Right now I just have one Common Whitetail. Hopefully later in the season the green and red dragons will join them since they have beautiful iridescent colors.

The fairies showed up very early in the week. During the day they hide as black beetles with orange heads, but at night they show their true selves. I see them in the tree tops blinking on and off - leaving green glowing trails where they pass. I see them as I fall asleep and they whisper to me in my dreams. Their children are fierce and well loved by me since they eat the evil slugs in the garden.

Besides the advent of some beautiful mythical creatures so many more magical things are happening this week in the garden. I started cucumbers seeds. Yesterday they uncoiled themselves and started growing. I know that little seeds ought to seem more magical, but the big seeds always amaze me more. They grow so powerfully. The same day they are up their roots break out of the bottom of the block. They seem so unstoppable. As soon as I see them break the surface of the soil I quickly plant them outside in the garden.

Then there is the magic of my lilacs. I never notice the flowers first. I notice the intoxicating scent before anything else. Yesterday was their big day. I walked into the garden and smelled the most wonderful scent. I closed my eyes and just experienced it. They are so much earlier this year than last. Last year they opened on May 30th. This year May 22nd. It must be because of this weeks heat spell.

So many other magical things happened in the garden this week. The opening of the first tomato blossom. The last harvest of spinach - so much that I couldn't eat it all and had to freeze part of it. The wild turkeys walking by and talking to me. The birds eating the insects in my garden while I'm still in it. The world is filled with so much magic. Do you see it in your garden as well?