From Out of a Crack… Behold, a Tomato
Whomever says tomatoes can not and should not be grown in pots has not witnessed some of the surprising discoveries I have made over the years. While out biking yesterday afternoon, I happened upon this fully mature, volunteer cherry tomato growing up from the dusty earth beneath a pile of discarded parking lot blocks. I was on the ball enough to stop and snap a few photos but realize in hindsight that I have got to go back and collect a few fruits for seed-saving. Because a tomato plant that can make it there, especially in the middle of what some are calling “the worst drought in Toronto in 50 years” can surely make it in a pot of soil. Never mind if that pot of soil is tended and watered now and again. A pot would be like moving into a full-service luxury spa complete with Swedish seaweed serum treatments, warm sage-infused towels, and full-body herbal body wraps after that kind of hard-living, right?
I love a lush, abundant garden as much as the next but I think the plants that best capture my respect and inspire the greatest sense of awe are those that are resilient and remarkably determined.
Related:
- Broad Ripple Yellow Currant - One of my favourite heirloom varieties because of their delicate, golden translucency and their dramatic risen-from-a-sidewalk-crack back-story. Who can resist a plant with a history of triumph over adversity? Not me, sappy sucker that I am.
- Secret Gardens - An alley tomato farm discovery that has become a perennial favourite and a great source of inspiration.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:26 am
What a great find! I love finding plants growing in unusual places. I recently came across several oak seedlings growing in my lawn. I had taken my kids on an autumn treasure hunt last year and I think they must have scattered some acorns throughout the back garden. I managed to extract two of them and they are now growing quite happily in some pots! We’ll release them into the wild sometime next year, I think. A 12×15 foot lawn is not the home for two oak trees!
August 27th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Awesome Gayla!
What a great surprise (if you don’t mind sharing after you have got your seeds, please let me know where it is!)
Also, do you have a list or directory of stores you frequent, spcifically for your organic soil additions (feed, etc.) I would like to go somewhere recommended.
Symbol of determination, those tomatoes!
August 27th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
awww! how cute!
great find!
August 28th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Send those “pot naysayers” to me, I’ll show them my 5′ tall Early Girl growing in 40# of potted topsoil.
I irrigate and fertilize and I have tomatoes to give away.
I love your website, Gayla!
August 28th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
wow, nobody told me you couldn’t grow tomatoes in a pot, because I did that this year, not knowing any better! I grew three plants and have enjoyed many tomatoes from it!
I wonder how that plant you spotted got there?
August 28th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Biking along in High Park, close to the Children’s Garden, I noticed a ground cherry plant growing out of a crack at the edge of the paved road. On a return visit I even enjoyed a tasty treat.
Here’s a picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/horticulturaltherapystudent/1261072489/
August 28th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
I’ve always had good luck with tomatoes in containers — my first garden was containers of tomatoes on an apartment deck, along with a Chia (no kidding) herb garden, also in pots on the deck rail. The tomatoes got so big that the whole deck looked overgrown!
Love your site — you’ve inspired me to do more with tomatoes and small spaces. I have the space for bigger gardening adventures, but not the time. Thanks for giving me ideas that have helped me not give up on the gardening altogether while I wait for a schedule that will allow bigger garden dreams!
August 28th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
I’ve always had good luck with tomatoes in containers — my first garden was containers of tomatoes on an apartment deck, along with a Chia (no kidding) herb garden, also in pots on the deck rail. The tomatoes got so big that the whole deck looked overgrown!
Love your site — you’ve inspired me to do more with containers and small spaces. I have the space for bigger gardening adventures, but not the time. Thanks for giving me ideas that have helped me not give up on the gardening altogether while I wait for a schedule that will allow bigger garden dreams!
August 29th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Emma: I love that little garden. Ground cherries are good volunteers. I have two volunteers coming up in a planter box this year. I decided to leave them and we’ve got fruit coming now. I have had tomatillos come up as volunteers in gravel.
Green Therapy: I keep meaning to post a list like that. Must do it.
John in Indiana: I love it!
Div_conspiracy: Don’t listen to the naysayers. I grow tomatoes in containers every year. I grew my first really successful plants in containers.
The seeds were from a local garden. They still traveled quite a distance but that happens.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
does anyone know what herbs would be beneficial to grow with cherry tomatoes please? i have heard basil and dill.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Rachelle: Basil is a great companion with any tomato. So is borage. I also grow lettuce and gem marigolds with my tomatoes. Dill is supposed to be a bad companion and I can say from experience that neither the tomatoes nor the dill have done well when I have grown them side-by-side.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
thanx gayla!!
August 30th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
thanx gayla!!
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:11 am
That’s awesome, Gayla! I hope you got seeds.
September 7th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
The tomatoes I have produced so far this year came from cherry tomatoes dropped into the raised bed last year, which were left for the critters, which then emerged as seedlings this year. The purchased tomato plants have yielded zilch. I have saved viable petunia seeds found growing out of cracks in a nearby asphalt road using your same reasoning.
If we stopped utilizing crippled seeds, such as those we get from commercial hybridizers, and relied only on those hardy seeds that made it in the pillaged environment we call suburbia/urbania, we might reap a more robust and sustainable bounty, I suspect.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
[…] I took this photo of a field of Gaillardia growing on a hillside on the Leslie Spit back in July before The Worst Drought in Fifty Years took a hold and sent lots of plants into hiatus on a short term or permanent basis. On a return visit in late August I found only a few blanket flowers blooming and many of the plants looking half baked. Gaillardia are an excellent drought tolerant flower but even the heavy hitters have their limit. […]