Yes, that mass of overgrown craziness in the middle of my garden and behind the roses is the tomato plant (actually plural -- there are three of them in there -- but it's one mass of tomato madness so I'll refer to it in the singular) that volunteered earlier this year. I let it keep going because I'm curious to test how volunteer tomatoes do/taste compared to starting them from seeds or seedlings. Although obviously the plants are huge (about my shoulder height), there is not a lot of fruit yet. Hard to tell if that's the cool and wet spring we've had or something to do with the volunteer status. I did cut the foliage back a bit since I took this shot -- taking out any branches not flowering or contributing, and to give the onions growing right next to them (in the foreground) a little more air.
To hedge my bets a bit -- and make sure we have tomatoes into September, especially since it's usually our warmest month in Southern California -- I've started a new tomato seedling as well. It's a Big Rainbow Heirloom I got at the farmers market on Cloverfield and Pico in Santa Monica (Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m.). Here it is right after being planted yesterday afternoon. As I did last year, I incorporated an organic free-range egg at the bottom of the hole, plus a lot of compost and good organic soil from the nursery. Yes, it is loved.
Also in the garden, three baby sweet-corn stalks I planted from seeds that Jeff picked up are starting to make their
move. If you squint, you can see them between the baby roses and the olive tree container (speaking of which, the Tanglefoot is definitely working to alleviate my ant problem there; this is my second application of duct tape with the Tanglefoot on it). I also scattered some alyssum seeds against the wall, both to add some color and because it attracts the beneficial insects. And I planted three new corn seeds in the same bed as the tomato seedling (in the above photo, they're up by the orange marigolds). The various melons and summer squash are hanging in there with various levels of happiness/success but again, it's been a rather cool and wet spring. We've just had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend filled with sun and the garden's gotten extra TLC so, just as the holiday is the unofficial start to summer, it feels like summer is beginning in the garden.





