How Does Your Garden Grow: First Tomatoes!

If you haven’t guessed by my previous posts, I’m ridiculously excited about my garden. I know, it’s probably getting to be a bit annoying how much I talk about it :) But you will have to suffer through my talking about it a bit longer because I just got to eat my first tomato today! Is it crazy that I become giddy over little things like eating a tomato?!

Last week I saw the first signs that the tomatoes were changing color. And I have been waiting these last few days for the right opportunity to eat one. Today was the day :) And it was good timing because I actually needed it for a crock pot recipe that I prepared this morning (if anyone cares I am making carne guisada and it’s really really tasty, try it sometime!). I picked a couple of tomatoes for the recipe and I had enough left over to put on top of my homemade pizza that I ate for lunch along with some basil from the garden. That’s what it’s all about, right?!

And here is my first tomato harvest. There was only one jellybean tomato ready so I brought it inside, washed it, and ate it. I just had to try it out! So I guess my tomatoes are a success. More of them are turning red as we speak and pretty soon I will (hopefully) have tomatoes coming out of my ears :) Here are some pictures of the garden now:

A little sampling of the tomatoes. This is one plant but I actually have 4 plants that I am tending to.

The jellybean tomatoes are so cute! I can’t wait to eat them like candy :) I have 3 of these plants.

My parents are away for a little bit so my Dad brought over his garden stuff as well. So I got to add these poblano peppers (above) and jalapeno peppers to my mix. He also brought over some flowers and oregano. Now my little patio is full of green stuff and I love it. It’s fun to have everything in pots too because I can move them around and decorate the patio with them!

The jalapeno peppers. I used one of these in my recipe as well. I have been eating the poblano peppers more often (mostly in omelets, yum!) but this is the first time I have gotten to use the jalapenos. Soon though when more tomatoes are ready, I will be able to make salsa and then the jalapenos will get eaten more often!

My cilantro and basil are still doing really well. They look a little puny now because I just harvested them. I have been using them a lot and I have found that I love having fresh herbs on hand. It makes everything taste better!

And because I messed up the first time, I replanted some spinach and here is the new little plant, just popping up. Hopefully it will work out better this time :)

So there you have it, a quick little garden update. It’s a thrill to finally be at the stage where I get to eat it. I mean, I have been going at this since the end of March! I have never been very good at waiting and being patient but I guess with a garden you don’t have a choice but to be patient. That is why I am going to enjoy every minute of it :)