tomato

Just picked the first ripe tomato from the garden. This is the sole tomato on a long spindly volunteer plant that must have come from the compost. We have a compost pile but we also feed kitchen scraps directly to beds and individual plants – it all breaks down so quickly with the humidity and heat, and countless insects. It’s a brave little tomato this one, rather scarred, not the prettiest, it certainly would get passed over in Safeways, but it made it: the plant fulfilled its genetic task, from that one lucky seed came, well I’m not sure, probably 80 to 100 others. Almost seems a shame to eat it. It was seeing the little volunteer in a bed of bromeliads and ornamental taro that inspired me to try tomatoes in the cottage garden. And now the first generation are heavy below fruit and the second generation are coming along nicely behind. I’ll get a knife, this moment must be savoured. Yep, very nice.