You can't beat homegrown

Tomatoes!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

So I finally got around to planting the tomato plants that I bought at the Kanapaha Garden Festival. They're heirloom varieties called 'Hillbilly' (left) and 'Black Cherry' (right).

I wanted to have one indeterminate and one determinate variety for my first tomato-growing experiment. The idea is that the indeterminate plant ('Hillbilly') will give me some big, sandwich-worthy tomatoes in the beginning of the season, though it's likely to poop out once temperatures climb. The determinate plant ('Black Cherry') should bear fruit throughout the summer that I can use on salads or in pasta dishes, quiches, or whatever.

I opted to use a self-watering container that I bought from Gardener's Supply Company, with the logic that I would never remember to water the tomatoes as often as they needed water (I'm kind of bad like that).

The container design is great, but the cage is another story. I cursed like a sailor while attempting to assemble it. The genius of the design is that it's several flat wire panels that can then be easily shipped. The giant flaw in the plan is that the plastic connectors that hold the wire frames together are poorly designed.

You're supposed to be able to snap the frames into the connectors, which is easier said than done. I dug a number of tools out of my kit -- pliers, zip ties, and electrical tape -- but still couldn't get it together the way the instructions indicated. Grrr. I finally used the electrical tape to secure the frames to the connectors. Hopefully it will hold up to the weight of a fully loaded tomato plant.

Also, I debated about putting both tomato plants in one container, since 'Hillbilly' is likely to get pretty big. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes. But boy am I anxious to have a bite of my first homegrown tomato!