Sunday, August 15, 2010

Eat your heart out, Miracle Gro

At the end of May, I planted a few edibles in the garden - I stuck some peppers and tomatoes in the only sunny flower bed on the property, and put two cherry tomato plants in pots near the patio, one red, one golden.

Things have gone swimmingly; we've been able to pluck cherry tomatoes while sitting outside at the table to toss into our salads or mouths, and barring a few unforeseen circumstances (like dogs surreptitiously helping themselves to a few ripe peppers, branches and all), we've had plum, black (honestly, BLACK) tomatoes, and white and chocolate brown peppers.

Lately, though, things have gotten a little, er, out of hand. In the space of about a week, my cherry tomato plants have gone from civilized, staked, well-behaved individuals to this:

tomatoes on the loose

Note: dogs added for scale, but against their will

I have no idea where the stakes have gone, I cannot even find the pots they're planted in, and this cherry tomato jungle has encroached on the lawn to the point where I have to cut a wide swath around it, because frankly, I'm afraid to get it mad.

I'm currently listening to The Tommyknockers, by Steven King, about the effects of alien nuclear power on a town, and, well, I'm just saying things have gotten VERY weird and out of hand here, and really, who knows where aliens might find themselves... there have been some new people in the neighborhood recently, and none of us knows much about them at all...

I'm afraid...

6 comments:

Sandra said...

We came back from a week at the cottage to find something similar with our pepper plants. I now send the boy out there to pick them...

Carol said...

The tomatoes are coming! the tomatoes are coming! Run for our lives! Or, alternatively, pass the red wine vinegar and the salt please, I sense a LARGE tomato salad in the offing

deirdre said...

The weird thing is, for the amount of greenery there is, there are very few tomatoes...

all show, no substance

Sandra said...

Deirdre,
I've lost your email address - so very sorry about your loss - wish I could give you a hug, but know I'll be thinking of you, especially when I'm bead shopping...

deirdre said...

Thank you so much, Sandra - the address I have for you might be at your old job?

Please, buy lots of extra beads -I'd love to know someone is enjoying their shopping...

Kelly said...

I had such a sad little patch of tomatoes this year...was it miracle grow...or did the dogs have somethin to do with 'fertilizing' the tomatoes?