TomTom

When I realized that traveling for work was going to be severely limited this summer because of Covid-19 and it’s related travel issues, I decided to plant a (small) garden in my back yard. I bought several herbs (oregano, chives, basil, two kinds of mint, & rosemary), and I grew a few pots of dill from seed. I also bought a little tomato plant.

I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of TomTom after he was first planted. I think this is the earliest picture I have, and he’s already getting big!

Looking back, I have to laugh because I wanted to buy two tomato plants and Pierre talked me out of it, telling me that I would have more tomatoes than I would know what to do with. That little plant is now huge, and has been abundantly producing–I’m glad that I listened. Around mid-summer, when I was in full-gardening mode, I decided to try to grow a pepper plant from seed. It’s growing and it’s beautiful and healthy, but I’m hoping it will be able to produce at least a few peppers before the first frost in the fall. Lesson learned….plant early!

Before his first haircut…

Pierre and I tend to nickname our favorite plants and flowers in the yard, and so I naturally started calling my tomato plant, TomTom from the moment he was in the ground. TomTom was little when we bought him and he has grown bigger than I could have ever imagined. The plant is HUGE! I’ve trimmed it back three times already, and he already needs another “haircut.” It’s a Big Boy variety, but I thought the name referred to the size of the tomatoes, not the plant! LOL!

Instead of putting TomTom in a tomato cage, Pierre put a stake in the ground. TomTom just laughed at the stake and grew sideways in both directions, even though I tried to train the branches upwards. My tomato plant looks unique, to say the least.

Trimmed and looking good…

I decided early on that I was going to keep track of TomTom’s yield, and the easiest way to do that is through pictures. The count has begun…

The tomatoes labeled 10-18 are earmarked for tomato soup. I’m going to let them ripen in the window, and maybe add a few more. I’m planning to freeze some of the soup, so I can have it later this fall.

Let the count continue…

19, 20, 21, & 22…
23, 24, 25, & 26…
Homemade roasted tomato soup w/Debbie’s homemade bread!
Ready for his 4th trim! He’s getting wild!

The dill that I grew from early summer, has finally hit the end of it’s growing season. I harvest the last bit of dill (pictured above), which I’m going to freeze for future use. The good news is that I planted new dill about 3 weeks ago, and very soon, I’ll have fresh dill again!

30 & 31…
I can barely believe that this is one tomato plant (8/23/2020)!
I made homemade baked beans with TomTom’s tomatoes
#32….this one went straight from the vine into a pot of homemade zucchini soup that called for one ripe tomato!
This soup is delish! I found a series of cooking videos on YouTube called, ‘Buon-A-Petitti,’ featuring an Italian grandma named, Gina. I FEEL Italian when I watch!
#33–I knocked this little guy off the vine when I was watering. I placed it on the windowsill so it will continue to ripen–it turned out great! Yum!
#39 & 40…
#46…
I cut TomTom way back today….he’s still sporting at least 20 more tomatoes that I hope will ripen before the temperature drops too much.
#48-53…

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