Wild Tomatoes

     I knew when I planted them that these would probably be the last tomatoes I would be able to grow in the back yard garden.  Our trees have been getting steadily bigger, their flourishing foliage increasing the shade there year after year.  From one crop to the next, I've moved their position in the plot to maximize their time in the sun.  Vegetables in general tend not to be shade plants, but some require more sunshine than others to do well.  Tomatoes and peppers, two of the most requested vegetables each time I ask my family what I should plant, are particularly sun-hungry.  So, when spring buds unfurled into summer leaves, and the canopy began to block out the sun, I wondered if we would get any fruit at all from these plants.  They started out looking weak and spindly, so I've worried over them all along.  While I'm generous with the compost, I don't use chemical fertilizers in our garden to give things an artificial boost.  Still, I've tried to give them every advantage I can- watering them less frequently and more deeply in the dry spells, patting or brushing them to develop stronger stems, and planting friendly basil among them.  Thankfully, they responded and doubled in size one week.  They still haven't grown quite as bushy as I normally think of  tomato plants, but they aren't as shy as they used to be.

     Another interesting thing has come from their time in the shade, though.  My tomato plants have gone wild.  Instead of staying safely and properly within their tomato cages like domesticated garden plants, these are reaching out, vinelike, leaning into whatever sun they can find.  They are rambling, exploring, mingling with the nearby lilacs.  They are stretching up and becoming the best they can be despite their imperfect circumstances.  The pumpkins are doing the same, though that is less of a surprise.  Pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, and zucchini are born to ramble.  It's in their viny nature.  Ours are doing a little more climbing than usual this year, and our best hope for a squash is currently at about eye-level.  We'll have to see how that works out.  But, it's the tomatoes, by virtue of their unusual response, that are most inspiring.

     We all have struggles.  We can't count on the universe to give us all the perfect circumstances we want, and sometimes our environment can even work against our goals, but Life finds a way.  We can adapt and thrive just like my tomatoes have.  We can reach out from being small and comfortable in what we know to explore the world and find a new way to flourish.  My plants had the cards stacked against them from the start, but their dauntless vines are laden with plump green tomatoes today.  It may take a little longer in the limited sunshine for them to turn red, but I know when they do, that they will be delicious.  They will be vibrant and tasty because they won't just be full of nutrients; they'll be full of moxie, too.