Back in the mid-70's when I was a kid, I wanted to plant a garden in the back yard. I did not receive parental approval for the project, though. I don't remember why the answer was no. My budding green thumb was apparently itching to grow and I had no outlet for the urge.
My Uncle Carl, who lived up the street, came to my rescue with a half dozen tomato plants complete with stakes and fencing to keep the rabbits out. At the time, I didn't even like to eat tomatoes, but I was thrilled with the prospect of growing them anyway! Some sort of parental negotiations must have happened, because I was given a bit of ground under the kitchen window for my garden. Yay!
It's funny, the things you remember. I have a vivid memory of Uncle Carl teaching me how to pinch off the suckers so that the plant grows stronger and produces more tomatoes. But I don't remember who dug up the ground and helped me put the tomato plants in.
I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank Uncle Carl for giving me my first garden! And to thank my parents for giving in and letting me grow something. It's been thirty years, but I will always remember those tomato plants....
Renee,
ReplyDeleteYour Uncle Carl and I were thrilled by your story. But we are sure you are better at growing tomatoes than we (he) is. He's still trying to figure out how to get goods ones. This year he planted 8 tomato plants, but one produced 5 cucumbers!!!!!!
Love, Aunt Char & Uncle Carl
Getting cucumbers from tomatoes must be one of the greatest gardening tricks of all time!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was a slick, tasty trick, but I would rather have a money tree pop up instead. Haven't figured out how to do that yet!
ReplyDeleteAunt Char
Yes, it was a very slick, tasty trick. Now I am waiting for him to figure out how to grow a money tree!!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Aunt Char