Ethyl comments: Gardening

When you grow up in the deep South you just naturally have a need to grow things. Don't question it, it is just born in you. In the movie 'Steel Magnolias', Ouiser shows up at the beauty shop with a sack of tomatoes she had grown and tries to give them away. She comments she can't stand tomatoes, never eats them herself, and when some one asked her why she grows them, she replies she is an old southern woman and that is what old southern women do. "Dig around in the dirt and grow things".
Who ever wrote that screen play had a very good knowledge of the south.
I live in the city now. Have for over thirty years. But every spring the urge arises in me to plant a garden. So I improvise. This year I planted ten potatoes in my little postage stamp size plot and I have one tomato plant in a large pot on my deck. Add to that a little patch of garlic, some chives, mint, and lemon basil and you just about have a complete list of my agricultural endeavors..
Early this spring I went to Lowe's and paid ten dollars for a tomato plant. I figure I will have to be able to gather tomatoes until fall to recoup my investment, but never mind that. It just satisfied my need to grow something. In a large pot I deposited top soil which I had bought, fertilizer, and mulch for the top, and then my prized tomato plant. After that it was a matter of carefully watering and keeping the bugs off and watching and waiting.
I have discovered a fool proof way to get my tomatoes to ripen. After going through all the above steps in planting and watering, you check every day to see if any of the young fruit has turned that delectable shade of red, and after a few weeks of faithfully checking and patiently waiting, you decide to go on vacation, during which time your tomatoes will ripen, fall off the plant onto the ground and rot. At that point your quest will be complete. Believe me, I have tried this method and it works every time.