Tomatoes suck

Tomatoes suck. Seriously, have you noticed how tasteless tomatoes have gotten? I remember loving to eat a raw juicy, tomato when I was young, even slicing them and sprinkling with sugar for a treat. I'd never do that with the red spherical Styrofoam we call tomatoes now.

There's a few reasons tomatoes suck so hard. First, they are picked green and not allowed to ripen on the vine, so they don't produce as much sugar, keeping them bitter. Instead, they are gassed and injected to "ripen" them - which just makes them look ripe. But even with this travesty, you would think you could grow your own tomatoes and they would be much better, right? Well, not so much. Most of the seedlings we (I) buy at big box stores are genetically enhanced varietals. They are bred to be hardy and bug resistant. And they are bred to not produce viable seeds. But they are certainly not bred for taste.

So this year, I'm going to bite the bullet - and hopefully, the good tomato - and grow heirloom tomatoes from seed. The intense caretaking that growing from seed takes runs counter to my garden philosophy, benign neglect, but I have been yearning for a good tomato, and this year, I will have one!

Now I just have to figure out how to keep the squirrels away.

In search of a Christmas tree

As a Jewish girl married to a Catholic boy,  Christmas is still - after 12 years - something of a mystery and a delight to me. The first year we had a tree, we picked it up at the last minute on the side Oregon Avenue here in South Philly. I remember wondering what the relevant attributes of a "good" tree were. I didn't realize then that floppy branches were bad (too weak to hold ornaments), and too bushy was bad (no room for ornaments). I just picked the one that "felt" right.

And happened to get a tree we have yet to top.

It was tall and graceful, yet wide enough to look jolly. The color was gorgeous greeny-blue and the best part was the scent. It smelled like oranges, something I didn't realize until we got it home and set it up. Every day for the next few weeks, I came home to the scent of pine and orange, and was happy.

And every Christmas since, I've wandered tree lots, sniffing needles, pressing my face up to branches, and generally looking like a lunatic scenthound. This year, I'm determined to get another of these special trees, no matter the cost, no matter the hassle.

But googling is not revealing definitive answers. Which is it?

Concolor Fir (White Fir)

Cranston's Christmas Tree Farm

Carolina Sapphire Cypress

Gay's Christmas Tree Farm

Grand Fir

 

National Christmas Tree Association

Ah well. If you see a girl with her nose covered in needles and sap, you'll know it's me, trying to regain past glory.

November cold rains
Brown stalks, rotten fruits, bare ground
Spring seems far away

More  tub!

Extra fun tubtime!

Green or white (trash)

So we've been renovating and renovating and renovating. Years of renovation. Tearing down and building back up.

And in that process, we've tossed debris left and right.

But something about the bathtub ... the concavity, the depth and width and height - it sparked an idea.

So we hauled out to the back, and voila! An extra one-third of my planting space is born.

One thing nags though - is this a "green" solution? Or just plain white trash?