For the Love of a Tomato
Did you help your parents with a vegetable garden when you were young?
My dad loved to garden and would plant tomatoes every year. When I was little, he asked me if I would help him.
We started at the local hardware store and bought a packet of tomato seeds, which cost 15 cents. Dad showed me how to take some potting soil (he always kept some in his garden shed) and fill the egg holders of a used egg carton mother gave us instead of throwing it out. He showed me how to take a tiny individual seed and plant it. A challenge for a little child’s hands. We then took a glass cleaner pump sprayer that mother gave us after washing out the residue ammonia. Did I mention that we reused things instead of buying new ones? We filled it with water and wet down the soil. "Spray gently, you need not disturb the seeds, but they need to get water to grow." We put the egg carton on the sunny windowsill over the kitchen sink.
“Now we wait.” Of course, I was too excited to wait and would run to the kitchen every morning to check the egg carton and back again after I came home from school. I was getting impatient after nothing seemed to happen after three days. Daddy said, "Patience, it takes time." Then one morning, I saw little green shoots breaking through the soil.
We watched the little shoots grow into baby tomato plants. I started crying because only 9 of the 12 plants sprouted. "Sweetie, you will learn that not everything does what you want. You have nine beautiful plants. Be proud of your success.”
One day dad said, “Don’t you think we need to give these seedlings more room to grow?” I nodded solemnly. We went to the garden shed and found some small clay pots he kept there. “We will move the seedlings to the shed, and mother doesn't like to have all the dirt in her kitchen." He gave me a conspiratorial wink.
We transferred the seedlings to the pots and put them under a fluorescent light daddy had set up in the shed. Every day I watched the seedlings grow.
"Now we plant," Dad said one day. And we did. And we watched the tomato plants grow. He taught me how to stake the plants so they didn't fall over and how to pinch off the suckers. “These suckers will make more leaves but not more tomatoes. You need plants to reach the sun. That is why we stake them.” And he taught me to fertilize and watch the flowers turn into little baby tomatoes and grow into big tomatoes. Daddy explained to me about the bees pollinating the flowers. I was amazed. It took time, and I was not used to waiting. Frustrating.
But then we picked the first tomato. Dad had me pick it. I was so excited. It was a moment I would never forget. We brought it into the kitchen, and mother cut it into slices and put it on two plates. Dad handed me the saltshaker, and he and I ate the tomato. My tomato that I grew.
Over the years, my patience improved under his guidance. I learned good things take time and that nothing always goes perfectly. Thank you, daddy.
How about teaching your grandchild to grow a tomato plant? You may "sprout" a memory or two.
No space? Planting can be done in a container as there are compact patio tomatoes. You can start them in a sunny window. It is good to start them with a seed, so your grandchildren learn disappointment if their seed doesn’t grow. Teach them how to nurture and feed their tomato plant, and deal with forgetting to water their plant. A tomato plant is a responsibility. Teach them early.
Your grandchildren may never have to raise a tomato plant to keep from starving (an issue during MY grandparents' time because a garden kept food on their table during WWII. Their parents survived the Great Depression, relying on a garden.
Growing food will teach our grandkids patience and understanding expectations don’t always come through and that perseverance gets you. Including failure if their plant dies. A packet of seeds now costs $2, but what an invaluable investment in your grandchild. And don't forget to teach them the value of using things on hand, like egg cartons, to start their seeds. Teach them some history, such as the role of Victory Gardens during WWII.
Do you live across the country from your grandchildren? Not a problem. Involve the parents and have them take pictures with their smartphones and text the photos to you every day while your grandchild is nurturing their tomato plant. You can face-time your grandchild to hear about their experiences as they grow their tomato plant. Revel in their success, and console them for setbacks. Encourage them to research if their tomato shows blossom-end rot and what to do about it. Parents can be busy with their jobs and getting the kids to and from school and afterschool activities and may not think about something as simple as growing a tomato plant, but you can become your grandchildren’s influencer.
What is your tomato story? What things did you learn as a child that you are passing along to your grandkids?
