Summer Lovin'

One of my favorite things about summer (which is really right around the corner here in Georgia!) is home grown tomatoes. I love tomatoes all year round and will practically eat anything with marinara, salsa, or any other kind of red sauce. I also like to just slice up tomatoes to enjoy as a snack. Salt or no salt, I love them either way. I might be a little obsessed with them, especially my own plants. There's just something about tomatoes that come straight out of the garden and into my kitchen during the summer!

Here's a few of my little cherries from last year:

I posted earlier this spring about my tomato seedlings. This is the second year I have tried to grow my 'maters from seeds to plants. I have to tell y'all, it is much harder than it looks. Too much water, not enough water, or too much sun and half the seedling tray is gone and unable to be resuscitated. Matt was really helpful this year with keeping them watered and sunned while they were babies, but inevitably we were left with about 6 seedlings that were healthy enough to be planted. After a few weeks in the ground we were left with about 2 plants that would be able to make it, thanks to another cold snap, too much wind and a few neighborhood birds that love to nibble on tomato leaves. I still wanted a whole garden full of tomatoes so we filled in with a few tomato plants we found at the flea. (They are surprisingly sturdy so far!) Last night I bought the last tomato to fill the garden and it is a 'Talledega' tomato. I've never heard of this kind of tomato before, but we're going to give it a shot and his nickname will be 'Ricky Bobby'.

Here's Ricky Bobby being planted in my garden:

The first tomatoes of the season growing on my 'early girl' tomato. She will probably be named 'Scarlet O'Hara' because she has lovely green leaves like Scarlet's famous green dress.

Another view of the garden. Last year we tried two topsy turvies as well, and they barely produced anything. I decided to concentrate on plants in the ground this year and I hope it pays off!

I'm working on growing a few herbs too (parsley, basil, oregano, etc.) but those are moving slow too. Hopefully I'll have something to share soon, since they would be a perfect addition to the homemade spaghetti sauce I'm going to try to make after my tomato harvest this summer.