Monday, July 28, 2008

What is it About Gardeners?

Carol at May Dream Gardens asked "What is it about gardeners?" yesterday. It was such an apropos question to me this morning. And I had the answer. We are all insane. And as I frequently do in the garden, I'm feeling that way right now. The definition of insanity that I'm using today is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I know better. I've done it so many times. But why do I keep doing it?

What have I done today you ask?

Well I know my chipmunks. You can't leave the tomatoes on the vine to ripen. They get them partially ripe. Yesterday, I looked at my two tomatoes - I might point out here that they are the first non-cherry tomatoes to ripen on my plants, so I was particularly looking forward to them - and got greedy. I wanted vine ripened tomatoes. So I let them stay in the garden for one more day. I told myself I would pick them in the morning. I thought maybe they would be safe. Now they had never been safe any other year, so nothing had changed, except that bout of gardener insanity. I kept thinking not one cherry tomato had been taken yet. Of course I've picked every cherry tomato only partially ripe.

Really I knew better. So much for my first ripe tomatoes. The Aussie I'm very sad about. I won't get another for quite some time. The Orange Blossom, is a determinate so all the other ones will start turning soon. In fact two already are blushing yellow. Hmm how long should I wait to pick those? Maybe just one vine ripened tomato?

5 comments:

  1. Oh those greedy little chipmunks! And they just nibbled the tomatoes too. Spoiled them just enough to keep you from tasting them. How frustrating! It is the things that we can't control with gardening that drive me the most insane.

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  2. why can't they just polish off one whole tomato instead of eating just a bit of two? how rude!

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  3. That's a shame. The squirrels use to do that with pears from our pear tree. They would take one bite and throw it on the ground to rot. That is enough to make a gardener insane.

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  4. Durn, they didn't even have the decency to eat the whole thing.

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  5. Yes I do hate my chipmunks. They won't let me grow strawberries and ate the last of my raspberries. I'm contemplating war.

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