tomatoes

This little red tomato has my little one itching to get outside each morning.  She runs to the tomato plants in the yard and carefully checks for "red one, only red ones."  When she finds a red one, she snatches it right away and promptly eats it.  Few tomatoes ever make it inside for soup or salad, like I had hoped.  Homegrown tomatoes taste so sweet!  My girls compare them to strawberries.

  

It has become our morning ritual and helps divert her attention away from morning tv.

If you have ever wanted to grow tomatoes but fear you can't, there is an easy way to do it with few supplies.  

Last year, we took out our raised bed garden because it needed to be replaced.  This year time got away from us and we didn't replace the raised bed garden like we had intended.  In place of the raised bed, I bought 2 large pots (mine are plastic like these from Lowes).  I always prefer clay pots but for this little experiment, I didn't want to spend too much money and the plastic ones are much cheaper.

Lowes

I also got a couple bags of organic potting soil.

Lowes

A couple tomato plants for each pot.

via

And lastly, we got a few tomato cages to put inside each pot.

Home Depot has these fun colored cages.

Within a matter of weeks, we had tomatoes and it was super easy.  The kids enjoy watering the plants daily and it is something that keeps them occupied outside.

Here's to ripe tomatoes all summer long!