Sep 10 2009
My Dog House Garden
Each summer for the last three years I would wish for a vegetable garden. The back yard consists of hard dirt (minus any topsoil), trees, sand, and red clay so growing any vegetables out there was out of the question. Back in the day I would grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, corn, etc… and I missed that. Of coarse that was when we lived near a pasture and the runoff made for a wonderful garden. All of my family and friends know that I do not have a green thumb. I drooled over the thought of home grown tomatoes. The taste of a tomato bought in the store just can not compare to the taste of one grown on the vine at home.
This year I decided to try my hand at growing tomatoes in containers. I did my research online then made a diagram of where to set the pots. I purchased pots, potting soil, stakes, tomato plants, and fertilizer. I soon had nine tomato plants sitting in a row of pots behind my house.
Each evening I would check on the plants, water them, and talk to them. They responded at first by wilting. I then ordered them to grow. They responded by wilting even more. I then begged them to wake up and grow. They just hung there silently. When my son found me on my knees in front of the plants crying out to them; “why are you doing this to me?” he patted my back, dried my tears, and told me to go wash my face. I went outside an hour later to find my son had made a planting bed out of an old dog house. He had also moved it to where the plants would get more sun. My oldest son had dug more dirt from the woods and added mulch.
Now the plants are proudly standing over two feet tall. Tiny yellow blooms are popping out all over the plants along with quarter size green tomatoes. I’m glad someone in this family has a green thumb.
