Like most Chicagoan's (those actually living within the city's boundaries), we have a small backyard. Therefore, our garden plot is pretty small. It's dimensions are approximately 14'x4'. We had good luck with green peppers and tomatoes last year, so I planted those again this year. I planted in early June as I wanted to wait until the days were warmer and the ground wasn't frozen. My expectation was that we'd have some produce around the end of July.
Last year, I got seedlings from Lowe's Garden Center. They were nice, sturdy plants and had a good yield. This year, Adrienne recommended that I check out the garden center at Walmart. The seedlings looked pretty sturdy and they were priced really well. I couldn't resist expanding our tomato crop, so this year I got Early Girls in addition to Big Boys and Better Boys. I went a bit "crazy" and got 2 dozen more seedlings than last year. When I planted the seedlings, they were all in neat rows spaced exactly 6 inches apart. Yes, I understand just how "anal retentive" I am. I call it "organized". I pointed out how beautifully the garden was planted to A. She said "You know that the plants grow, don't you?" Yes... thank you... I didn't know that. ha ha You can tell that we are sisters, can't you?
The Big Boys and Better Boys have grown to similar sizes as last year. A few feet high, not spreading out too much, you can still see the rows I planted. However, the Early Girls (of which I got a LOT), have exceeded my growth expectations. They are all between 4 and 5 feet tall! They are growing wildly and have so many tomatoes on them! I just shake my head when I go out to the garden.
The green peppers, on the other hand, were a disappointment until about a week ago. There were no peppers on the plants, other than maybe 1 or 2. I was actually going to pull them all out and perhaps plant a Fall harvested crop of squash or something. Good thing I didn't because I now have peppers everywhere! We harvested 6 of them the other day and I made stuffed peppers for dinner last night.
Mom grew up on a farm. She usually takes a passing interest in my garden. That is, until it starts to yield. She LOVES eating tomatoes fresh from the garden! When we got our first reddish tomato (when they just start to turn red), she was so excited. Now, she goes into the garden every day and reports on the progress of the tomatoes. And, she is picking my tomatoes before they are ready! Yes, my Mother likes to have tomatoes on our kitchen windowsill. She likes to see the progress they make every day. And she examines them regularly and eats them the moment they are ready. We have only had a couple of tomatoes that have been ready to eat, but they were sure tasty! Mom is anxiously awaiting more fresh tomatoes so that she can eat them daily.
Since Mom enjoy the yield from my garden so much, how can I deny her the joy of picking the tomatoes (early or not) and watching them ripen? It's such a small pleasure. Why would I even complain?
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