A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Joe's Gift

I was shopping in a little town nearby...happened to go to a greenhouse...duh! There sitting in the greenhouse were veggie plants marked way down...a sale! I thought what better thing to round off my father's day gift to Joe than a couple of these healthy looking plants? So, I bought a Better Boy and a new variety (to me) Better Bush. Here is what I learned after getting home with these beauties.

Real Tomato "Tang" and a Long Season of Harvest. Walloping 4-inch fruits have a lusciously juicy consistency and great garden-fresh flavor!
68 days. If you're looking for an old-fashioned-flavored tomato with the juiciness and distinctive "tang" you remember from vine-fresh tomatoes of the past, Better Bush Improved Hybrid is the best choice. These big, luscious, 4-inch fruits grow very densely on indeterminate 4-foot plants, thanks to shorter internodes. The central stem rarely needs staking (except during those "bumper crop" times!), and this plant begins early in the season and just keeps going! This is a superbly garden-worthy variety with great yields of ultra-satisfying fruits. Resistant to Verticillium Wilt and Fusarium Wilt Race 1.
Plant outdoors when danger of frost is past and night temperatures consistently remain above 55 degrees F. If an unexpected late frost is forecasted, protect young plants with plastic sheeting or other cover. Set plants 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart.

Since we have limited space for tomatoes...this was hopefully a good choice. I figured that we would just set them in the ground near the house. Joe had other plans. He is a meticulous gardener. As I watched him mark off a perfect circle using a piece of rope, remove sod,
dig up the earth, make two deep holes, chop up dirt removed from holes and set aside, mix his magic potion in the watering can, fill the holes, let it percolate down, refill with soil, take off bottom leaves from the tomato, place it in the loose dirt, tamp it down, put a cage around it, water it in....not touching the leaves, and then stand back perspiring from the work and then meticulously cleaning his garden tools...I thought to myself, "Why did you do this? You made all this work for him, calling it a gift." But later in the day, I saw a smile of satisfaction on his face. He used to have a beautiful vegetable garden, and now he says that he knows for the rest of his life, he will have a place to grow his few tomatoes. Now I'm smiling.
Balisha

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely present you gave your hubby for Father's Day. Hope you harvest lots of yummy tomatoes. :)

MILLIE said...

Ahh. Balisha. What a nice gift to what sounds like an extraordinary gardener. I hope you both have a happy Father's day, and enjoy watching and caring for those two plants throughout the season. Very nice blog today.

Balisha said...

He has a few more gifts coming on the actual day.He got these early, because they had to be planted or we would be harvesting tomatoes in December...LOL

Gram said...

What a great a gift and if he is anything like me he doesn't mind the "work". I never consider anything in the garden, no matter how time consuming or physical, work but fun.

Also Happy Anniversary!

OhioMom said...

How cool! I notice that hubby slips outside to admire my little garden and even asked if I had taken pics, I am happy Joe liked his "first gift".