I was so bad at growing anything that I used to kill cactus. My friend gifted me a cactus plant once and told me it was nearly impossible to kill, but somehow it died under my care. I bought potted basil from the grocery store, and couldn’t keep that alive for more than one use. I killed mint in a pot; it’s supposed to grow like a weed. So as you can see, once we realized how much better it would be to grow our own food, I was intimidated about growing even a tomato plant.
I decided to try anyway. I chose the yellow pear tomato as my first plant because it would be fun for the kids to try. The uniqueness of the tomato motivated me to face the daunting unknowns in the garden. I started from seed in a small pot by the window, and to my surprise, was able to grow a sprout indoors. When it got a bit larger, I planted the tomato into a bigger pot and left it in partial sun outdoors. Every day I watered it and watched it, encouraged by the steady growth. There still weren’t any flowers yet but the plant grew big enough it was about to need a tomato cage. I made a mental note to buy one in the next couple of days.
One morning, I looked out the window and the plant looked different. I came closer and nearly all the leaves were gone! I had no idea what had happened so I went inside and searched online for reasons why tomato plants would have disappearing leaves. The search resulted in my education on the tomato hornworm. I went back outside and looked carefully. I saw 4 huge hornworms camouflaged so well on the stems I could barely detect them! The kids and I plucked them off with gloves and they enjoyed their new pets for a little while before feeding them to the birds.
Eventually the tomato plant started growing its leaves again. This time I was vigilant about looking for any sign of the hornworm. Anytime any leaves disappeared, I knew there had to be at least one of those pests hiding in the pot. I was going to find it! I would even hide behind my curtains until it came back out and then grab it as soon as it surfaced. I’m not sure if they could see me but I was convinced they knew I was looking for them. By the end of the season, my one plant only produced ONE yellow pear tomato. It was probably the best tasting tomato I had ever had, maybe because of all the determination and effort or maybe because it was fresh from the vine, or both.
What I learned from that experience was that it was possible for me to have success in gardening if i didn’t give up, even if it was just one lonely yellow pear tomato. And maybe the one plant was not the best indicator of how well I could do if I did a little more research. As an academic that’s what I did well. I just never thought to apply it to gardening.
I tried again the following season, and this time I was more prepared. I had learned about planting tomatoes with marigolds and basil to deter pests. I was starting to compost to provide needed nutrition and “live” soil. I also provided my plants with a head start by starting seeds even sooner indoors. That next season, we built a raised bed and I planted 3 tomato plants. We had a very successful plentiful season of tomatoes. It was a joy to see the kids excited to pick orange, yellow or purple tomatoes to try.
Over the years, I have found this attitude to be necessary for my gardening success: Expect to have plenty of failures. Prepare for them, but keep trying. Eventually your efforts will be fruitful (pun intended). Success is inevitable if you do not give up. If I can do it, anyone can.