Our own personal beanstalk

With temperatures falling and one brush with overnight temperatures around the mid-40s, I decided this past weekend it was time.  Time to pull the beloved tomato plants that have served us so well this summer.  The plants we began as seeds in late winter, gently nursed into small seedlings, and planted in our own little patch of earth in late spring.  The plants that yielded hundreds of tomatoes, enjoyed fresh, cooked into sauces and frozen for the months to come.  

After all, the plants had really faded in the last weeks.  Tomato production had stalled, save for our one miraculous yellow pear shaped miniature tomato plant.  Marveling at how it had grown, before I yanked it from the dirt, I just had to grab my tape measure:



Up, up, up the tape measure extended, until it reached the top and I stood dumbstruck at the heights to which this mighty plant had grown:



Ten feet, three inches.  Holy moly, that’s one tall tomato plant.  As G said, “I think it is almost as tall as our house!”

And then for the next hour I spent time clearing out the remaining tomatoes from the patch, most of which were green.  I was surprised that even in this last day of the planting season, I still harvested a good bit of produce:



I left the pepper plants and the eggplant and okra as well, since they still seem to be prospering and I figure if we have a night or two of frost, I can easily whip a sheet over the plants to protect them before the hard frost arrives.

All in all, it was a good growing season.  I learned a lot...and will put that to good use for the next growing season, which we’ll start inside in mere months.

In the meantime, I have a good bit of tomatoes in the freezer and am ready to put them to good use in the kitchen!

Life is sweet,
SPC

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