THE Tomato

Today we ate the first tomato from my garden. Yes, there was only one. Actually, I've harvested three tomatoes, but you have to get them the very instant they begin to turn pink, or the cardinals will beat you to them. Two are ripening on the kitchen windowsill.
Every year as soon as there is one sunny day in February everyone races to the big box home store out on the highway for something to plant. My grandmother had a garden and she always grew tomatoes, and I'm determined that as a grandmom that's going to be part of my persona....Grandmom's garden. Now about those tomatoes. I planted them the end of February. I protected them from frost and high wind and lack of rainfall. I planted marigolds to keep the bugs away, and every afternoon after school, I faithfully showered them with very expensive city water. I was rewarded fairly early with blooms and that was encouragement enough for me.
I kept up my watering and fertilizing routine and staked the lanky things when the wind blew them down.
All my hard work has paid off and today we ate the world's most expensive tomato. In view of the great tomato salmonella scare of 'o8, we were very glad to have this ripe delicacy. We sliced it to eat with a pot of fresh purple hulled peas. It was small, but perfect. Thinly sliced and liberally treated with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, it was an awesome acidic blast of flavor.
Next year I'm going to start with more plants and get some steer manure from the Ag barn to mix into the soil. Now that I know that I can grow tomatoes, the sky's the limit. I could probably do cucumbers and canteloups as well.