I have managed to grow tomatoes!

These are the size of cherry tomatoes one would get at the grocery store but I am not sure if that’s how large they’re supposed to be since I grew it in a pot (or planter as home depot calls them). I’m learning that if I grow something in a pot I’m going to get miniature version of whatever it is that’s growing.
These are Siberian Tomatoes. I bought the seeds from Seed Savers and its a determinant early yielding tomato. I started the seed on January 5th of this year and they began yielding fruit about two weeks ago. I am not sure how "early" this is since I was able to get tomatoes from the farmer’s market in May (as well as hydrophonically grown ones). Seed Savers does say that these are "dwarf" variety…so maybe they are the right size?
Besides the cost of the seed (packet of 25 cost $2.75) I didn’t spend much money growing these tomatoes. The pot was under $10 from home depot. The soil was the compost and was entirely from my compost bin. I only began watering them in June because we had some steady rain from March onward when I placed them outside. And I didn’t have to act as some sort of sex expert on these tomato flowers because we had some visitors. That’s right, bees actually showed up to sex up my tomato flowers. I was so happy when I first saw the first bee that I had to check online to see that what I had seen was indeed a bee and not some other pesky bug.The only problem I had with the plant was some sort of white mould early on which was apparently caused by overwatering. So I learned to check the soil before watering. The cure for getting rid of the mould was to spray the mould areas with a mild soap solution.
So what did I do with these tomatoes? I made salsa, because my salsa is the best tasting salsa to me: Cilantro and lime juice is not local.






That looks so good and it must feel good having grown it all!
Comment by Heather @ SGF — July 3, 2008 @ 7:30 am
Cilantro and lime are local here in Southern California - soon, my dear, soon.
The tomatoes are adorable. I have tomatoes from the seeds of organic tomatoes. More than 2 months and finally little tiny baby tomatoes are coming. Yea.
Comment by katecontinued — July 3, 2008 @ 9:56 am
I feel good that I didn’t kill the plant. But yes its such a good feeling to have grown something from scratch. I am still amazed at how our compost bin works. Its like magic!
Comment by Beany — July 3, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
Doesn’t stuff taste better when you grow it yourself? My family has a salsa making contest every year - This looks like it would be a definite contender!
Comment by melissa — July 4, 2008 @ 11:19 pm
melissa: it certainly does. A salsa making contest sound much more exciting (and healthy) that some of the other food making contest I’ve read about lately.
Comment by Beany — July 5, 2008 @ 8:19 pm