Tomatoes are Planted

Well, we planted our tomatoes with the help of a friend of ours. We are quite lucky for him to show us his tomato-growing secrets. He inducted us into the Tomato-Grower's Secret Society, and we are waiting for his secrets to work their magic on our plants. It's really kind of funny, but that's what he wants us to do. He's a super guy. Some of you might remember him from our New Year's Eve Party. He was the barbecue chef. He's very knowledgeable about many different and diverse subjects. I am in awe every time I talk to him. I love to surround myself with knowledgeable people. Many of the mothers I meet are this way, and I love it!

Well, our tomatoes will be doing well to survive to the point they can produce their 200# per bush. (Oh, he also says they'll grow to 10 feet tall, and keep producing until the first frost in winter. We'll see, won't we?) Our dogs keep digging them up. I don't know how they're getting out at night, but they are. I have, for the last several mornings, gone out and replanted several of the tomato plants. I am quite upset at our dogs right now. The stinkers!! They are labs, however, and I guess they do this sort of thing. Just ask my friend bfarmmom.

I did finally get in our backordered tomato seeds. They are sprouting, and when they're big enough, I will plant them with the others. They'll probably grow pretty fast since I used extra worm tea on them. This variety is called "Costoluto" beef steak tomatoes, all the way from Italy! The other three varieties we planted are: Brandywine (red) beef steak, Black Russian (a purple heirloom), and then a hybrid "Sugary" grape tomato, just because we love to pop those cute little ones in our mouth in the fields.

The kids have helped with this process all the way through, and they are hoping they can put a little money in their pockets along the way, from selling some of the fruit of their labors. Their homeschool field trip expenses have escalated since the group started going skating every other Wednesday. Let's just say that roller-skating is their latest obsession.