A Farewell To Summer…

November 3, 2014

As I say farewell to summer, I’m mourning the loss of my beautiful tomato plants.  When I got out of bed this morning, the temperature here was 29 degrees.  I took Jax out for a quick walk around the yard and I saw what I knew had to come…my tomato plants are officially dead.  I mourn their loss as if they had been good friends.  They provided me with enough fresh tomatoes to last through the summer and enough canned tomatoes, tomato juice, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce and salsa to last until the next growing season.  My home grown tomatoes will truly be missed.

However, this year, I am trying something that I had read about in Mother Earth News magazine last year.  The article made me think that it may actually be possible to grow tomato plants indoors during the winter.  A month or so ago, while it was still warm, I purchased two white plastic 5-gallon buckets from Walmart for under three dollars each.  I put a layer of gravel in the bottom of the bucket and then added a few alternating layers of dirt from my garden and leaves from the neighbor’s maple tree.  I then snipped about five good-sized stems from my then-healthy and vigorous tomato plants and put them in a vase of water to jump-start root formation.  (If this is successful, tiny little roots should grow out from the sides of the plant stems…this actually worked for me.)

I then planted the tomato plants in the bucket of dirt.  They are now sitting beside the window in Charming’s office, where the temperature stays fairly warm.  (As noted before in a previous post, Charming keeps the house warm and toasty with our wood stove…usually around 72 – 76 degrees.)  Since the tomato plants already had blooms on them and are self-pollinating, I’m optimistic about the possibility of having at least one “home grown” tomato this winter. 

Tending and watching these tomato plants will allow me the anticipation of getting that first lovely, red fruit off the vines…almost like the anticipation of that first bloom on a Christmas Amaryllis, which will be here before we know it!

I cut off a branch of an already mature tomato plant,
then re-planted that branch into a 5-gallon bucket of dirt from our
garden, along with dried maple leaves from our neighbor's yard.

A closer-up picture of the tomato branch that I planted for winter.
Note that I chose branches that had already flowered.  These plants
are now sitting in Charming's office for the winter.

Update on the new pup, Jax...He has already bitten through these
rubber rings.  Much to his dismay, they are not nearly as much fun to
flail through the air once the rings are separated.  (He's a lab/pit bull
mix and they are known for their bite strength.  This is our second
lab/pit bull mix dog and we have found them to be extremely smart,
loyal, comical, and lovable.  And I will pine forever for my wonderful boy, Max.
He was the ultimate "good dog".  We firmly believe you get out of a dog exactly
what you put into it...but, Lord, I'll be glad when Jax gets out of the
"puppy stage".)

This is Jax zipping around and playing with his new toy..a big rubber ball
with a thick rope that runs through a hole in the middle of the ball.  As you
can see, he's a playful little fella so we'll see how long this toy lasts.