You say tomato…
I’m growing itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, the size of a big polka dot, red tomatoes. (Well, that didn’t rhyme, but I’m not a poet, and I’ll never fit into a bikini!)
Native Wild Florida Everglades Tomatoes. These young tomato seedlings were brought to one of my gardening meetings all together in a big pot. I eased one out, wrapping it in a wet paper towel, and brought it home. Carefully, I planted it deep in a large container of well nourished planting soil. It was placed on a flat stone keeping it from touching the ground to get it away from nematodes, on the north side of my lattice screened patio. Nematodes are a real nemesis for tomatoes. What I also knew about tomatoes was that they were not a zone 10 summer winner. We have opposite planting seasons from northern planting.
However, cherry tomatoes were known to survive the summer heat and able to set fruit, but these were even smaller than cherry tomatoes. Being native, wild, and Everglades tomatoes, they were not your typical hybrid one grows for the table. Having put my seedling in a five gallon pot, one third full of rich potting soil, I kept adding more soil to just below the level of each set of new top leaves, until it reached just below the rim of the pot. This would stabilize it for good growth. It shot up rapidly.
Knowing that tomato plants can root easily, I clipped out the tip of the plant and gave it to my oldest daughter for her garden set-up at her duplex. We put a 4×4 bin on top of five-foot poles, with holes underneath in which to poke hanging plants upside down. Into one of these holes we popped the cutting. It grew rapidly, trying to curl upward toward the top. She had herbs of oregano, sage, thyme, chives, and basil growing in the top tub. On her bottom shelf were pots of green peppers, a regular tomato, rosemary and a deep pot of parsley. It was a successful delight for her. She loves to cook.
Mine grew up to the top and back down of my eight foot high lattice patio. Branching as far wide as high, I had to prop it up. I plucked many a handful to nibble on and to throw into my salads. I missed many, so when the original plant had long spent itself, there were seedlings galore. We both now have multiple plants.
My original plant was in the shade on the north side of my patio; now I have the pots out in the sunny part of the yard, by my gourmet mesclun mix lettuce. I have cut the mix twice now for loose-leaf salads and to fill sandwiches, and am about to do a third cut for a salad, just throwing in a handful of tomatoes, with chopped green onion and a lite raspberry, pomegranate vinaigrette dressing. Heavier dressings overpower the greens.
I had my grandson’s girlfriend over because we both love salads and he won’t eat them, but the loose-leaf lettuce was much too light for her without a crunch. So now I add a little, devoid of any mineral nutrition, head lettuce for crunch. Loose-leaf lettuces are loaded with vitamin A and high in potassium, yet has few calories, so they make a real salad treat with great flavors. The tiny tomatoes pop in your mouth.
These wild native heirloom plants do very well in the summer heat and excel in our cool fall, winter and spring. They do need protection from a freeze. I’m now surrounding the pot with a tomato cage trellis. It doesn’t take long for blooms to set and present great clusters of tiny ripened tomatoes. You can keep starts going all year around. Just cut off a shoot and root it, or drop a tomato or two on the soil for new sprouts to grow. You can have as many plants as you want. I threw osmocote pellets in to feed the plants when they get watered, but watering with fish emulsion is just as productive. They can grow fifteen feet tall. As the seed purveyor says, “you only need to buy these seeds one time.” I’m also growing radishes and my nasturtiums for salads.
I guess my New Year’s resolution is, “to eat fresher and healthier foods.” Eating is a delicious habit of which I’ve grown quite fond.
Joyce Comingore, Master Gardener, President of James E Hendry Chapter of the Am. Hibiscus Society and National Board member, member of the Garden Club of Cape Coral