Amazing tomato goodness

I'm so terribly proud!

Garden = miracle

Surely I live in a crazy place. How else can you explain what can happen in two months?? Look at how the garden grows:

Overhead shot taken May 1 2010

Overhead shot taken July 3 2010

Tomatoes, tomatillos, zucchini - taken May 2 2010

 Tomatoes, tomatillos, zucchini - taken July 3 2010

Look at the size of this zucchini plant! Here's my hand holding the leaf, for added scale:

And finally, the miracle of the tomato. In September, I harvested seeds from some local tomatoes. In March, I got some sprouts. And now the enormous thriving plants are starting to make fruit!

Update on the garden project

I successfully germinated some tomato seeds:

and already have a brave sprout!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomato update

Earlier this summer I posted about trying to germinate tomato seeds for next summer's garden.  I took some more pictures but never added them here! (Or I can't find the post. Practically the same thing.)

As a reminder: here's the tomato whose seeds I harvested:

Then, according to this article, you put 'em in a jar and let them get moldy:

Then you rinse them off, dry them, and voila! Seeds for next summer's planting! I've got a lot... anyone want some?

You say tomato, I say YUM

When I was growing up, the best summer meal ever was BLTs made with the amazing beefsteak tomatoes my mom grew in the garden. I've never had a real urge to garden, but man, I miss amazing tomatoes fresh off the vine. Yes, I can buy them, but it's not quite the same.

Now that my building is doing a garden, I'm excited to try to save some tomato seeds and grow my own next year. I got three locally-bred tomatoes at the farmer's market today. The tomatoes are gorgeous: red, with hints of orange and green. The flavor is amazing - a bit tangy, a bit sweet; I couldn't stop myself from eating a whole one on its own. I'm inspired to save the seeds and see if they'll grow for me next year!

But now I've learned that you have to put a tiny bit of work into harvesting tomato seeds, and it could get a bit icky. Still, I've got to try. Stay tuned!