I have a million pictures and stories from this past weekend in Florida that I should be sharing, but I simply couldn’t wait to share the exciting news….

WE HAVE OUR FIRST TINY TOMATOES!!!

I don’t know what I was thinking when we first planted this garden.  We just went to the store, picked out some plants and vegetables we wanted to eat, threw them in the ground, watered them when we remembered, and hoped for the best.

This is not how successful gardening works.

Sure, we’ve been pretty lucky.  Our herbs are growing like mad.  Our lettuces have fed us, dried out and then – with a little love – regrown to feed us once again.

But tomatoes are a different beast.  I’ve googled.  I’ve read Tomato blogs (see here and here). I’ve identified insects and mold.  I’ve bought sprays and tomato feed.  I’ve pruned and clipped and arranged.

And today, as I was watering and spraying for bugs and pulling away dead leaves, I spotted it.  Our first little tomato!

I would say that I never thought a little tomato would get me this excited, but I knew from the start.  Oh yes, as soon as we planted the seeds and I had to practice my skills in patience, I knew.

I love tomatoes.

And then, I found another.

And the teeny tiny beginning of another…

I was nervous a few weeks ago when we discovered insects covering one of our plants and mildew attacking.  Tomatoes need tons of sun and we’d had a foggy, chilly few months.  When we got back from Florida the other day I even contemplated tearing one of the plants up.

Crazy. Talk.

So now both of our plants are covered with flowers.  I will diligently be watching these first little guys and fighting the insects/mildew with new vengeance.

And I will also be looking up recipes while I sit and wait even more.  Tomato tart?  Tomato Paella?  Tomatoes Millefeuille?

Oh the possibilities!

xoxo