This is my one tomato plant I grew this season. It was supposed to hide in the middle of the 10-foot planter, surrounded by marigolds, vincas, petunias and alyssum. Instead, the tomato plant went all ‘Little Shop of Horrors‘, and took over the planter and pushed the marigolds out of the box, and choked off most everything else. It has grown out of the planter on all sides. The plant is about 15 feet wide. There is a wire tomato cage buried somewhere in the middle.
In mid-October, we had a surprise early freeze, with snow, so I bundled up the plant with a series of blankets and tarps, two nights in a row. (No homeowners association rules here, thankfully.)
The snow covered the ground and the tarps all night. The windchill was in the 20s Fahrenheit. The snow and freeze broke four very old weather records.
Now we are back to sunny warm afternoons and chilly but not freezing nights. The plant came through the freeze mostly okay, and has a boatload of green tomatoes currently ripening on the vines.
Some of the tomatoes got scarred from the freeze, but continued to ripen.
The scars have so far been confined to the surface. The inside growth pattern is odd, but the taste is normal.
The planter faces south and gets a full day of sun. With luck, I’ll get another dozen or so tomatoes before I have to give up on the growing season.
My foster garden helper got adopted by her forever parents this past week. The little digger was with me for almost 6 weeks, and gained 12 pounds during that time.
run | sew | read 
Love your garden helper…
Love the Clapton song…one of my favorites by him.
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Thanks. You should see what ‘the helper’ did with my five new bags of cedar mulch.
That’s one of my fave Clapton songs too. It seems to be one of the more forgotten ones, and I don’t know why.
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I can only imagine…You can see mischief in his eyes lol. Our dog did that when she was a puppy and I finally got her to stop. She is a Saint Bernard and we would have fallen in the holes if she had continued.
It’s not been played as much at all…that and Let It Rain.
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Oh wow, those would be big holes. Saint Bernards are so lovely.
True about Let It Rain. The mention made me pull it up and play it.
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We have had two of them in the past 20 years…So gentle and with great personalities.
The two songs remind me of each other…it’s the titles I guess.
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I’m envious. I’d love to have a Saint Bernard.
True about those two song titles.
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I cannot reccomend one enough. She is a part of us no doubt. They love human attention…and she gets it. Just wonderful temperaments.
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That’s my impression of them. Maybe someday.
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That’s a perfect spot for your tomato plant in it’s own little micro-climate!
Love your little helper. 🙂
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Micro-climate….I like that! Thanks!
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Brilliant job protecting your plants. So glad it worked for you. I applaud you for fostering animals. It looks like you do a good job. : )
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Thanks! Fostering is so rewarding. It’s really hard to give them up at the end, though. 🙂
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