I too refuse to buy those store tomatoes. Too spoiled from the yummy taste of growing my own.

Exactly.

They do sell some heirloom ones here, but cost an arm & a leg...plus they are imported which I don't like......a farm in a neighboring town does sell greenhouse toms most of the year, they taste better than the Calif. ones, but not by much. This is why we garden!

If only everyone knew how much better any home grown tomatoes taste over the store bought ones I think everyone would grow some tomato plants.

I totally agree, Rita. Either some folks don't care or they're too lazy to even try one tomato plant. Long ago Jack gave plants he grew from seed to two neighbors who asked for them. Before the season was finished they told him it was too much work and they didn't want to do it again. Odd since they still wanted tomatoes we'd give to others.

pirl said:I totally agree, Rita. Either some folks don't care or they're too lazy to even try one tomato plant. Long ago Jack gave plants he grew from seed to two neighbors who asked for them. Before the season was finished they told him it was too much work and they didn't want to do it again. Odd since they still wanted tomatoes we'd give to others.

Yes, they want the actual tomatoes but usually they don't want to grow the tomatoes. And really a few tomato plants are really not much work.

One person I know in my neighborhood had 4 tomato plants last year. So I gave them tomatoes. This year they planted one tomato plant. Only one!! Less work they said. Really how much work can 4 plants be?

Isn't it amazing? The two men I mentioned had one tomato each in a big wooden barrel. I can't imagine how it could be too much work.

Even when I had much smaller property I always grew lots of tomatoes.

That's the other thing I often see happen. Where people plant afew tomato plants but then totally ignore them. I guess everyone's not motivated to garden but you would think they would at least pick those tomatoes. Oh well.

It may be that the tomatoes put on huge growth spurts (around July 4th here) and it could be too much to handle for those new to growing them.

pirl said:It may be that the tomatoes put on huge growth spurts (around July 4th here) and it could be too much to handle for those new to growing them.

Who knows? I know not everyone is into even a little gardening.

Tomatoes take very little work....worth the time....no one else on my road gardens, their loss!

RobinD said:Tomatoes take very little work....worth the time....no one else on my road gardens, their loss!

They don't know what they are missing.

I still have tomato plants. Even though I have been pulling plants out for weeks. But pretty soon they will all be gone.

I try not to judge others lack of wanting to garden for themselves. For some people it just is not something they want to take on. That's fine.

I don't do my own welding...but a guy down the road from me does, and he loves tomatoes but don't garden worth a damn...

I am surprised at people that really don't want much of a yard as they don't even really want to cut the grass.

It's quite an expense for me to have the lawn mowed every week....this year, saved some cash because the lawn browned so early! Now it's back to lush & green....need one more cutting....

I have the grass cutting guys come every two weeks usually. This year there were times when I made them go 3 weeks between cuttings because there really was no grass to cut.

I was pulling out tomato plants again. I think by the end of this week I will have them all pulled out.

Need to do that....putting it off til the last minute, as usual!

RobinD said:Need to do that....putting it off til the last minute, as usual!

This week is supposed to be decent for the weather so I would like to get the rest of the tomato plants out. No point in waiting as it might just turn nasty cold soon.

Working in the garden in a few minutes.....will clean some, but not all of it.....the mice like the rotten veggies.....

I still have Swiss chard in the community garden, protected from frost with row covers. I plan to harvest it this weekend & make chard & lentil soup! I also still have radishes & baby bok choi. Maybe a stir fry in our future too?

Otherwise the garden is totally put to bed....awaiting next year. I planted a bed of asparagus spring '16. I can hardly wait to harvest a spear or two from each plant next spring!