My name is Spike and I am a tomatoholic

[Spike2]

After my Old Uncles passed away I was floundering in my garden and joined Idig for help. Carolyn (YES it is all her fault that I am here) directed me here. At first I sort of felt that a lot of you had an unnatural love of tomatoes. I mean geez, you plant so many! What do you do with them all?

Yes Tomatoes are a sickness. I just planted 22 of them and that was cutting back what I wanted. In my defense all my Old Uncles would ever plant were seeds saved year to year of Red Oxheart. I never realized how many kinds there are! So it is official. I have joined the ranks of tomato lovers.

[NarnianGarden]

Welcome! Join the ranks. But be forewarned, the addiction is contagious and most likely not curable

[dmforcier]

[Chorus:] "Hello, spike."





Don't you also have a pom problem?

[Worth1]

Well I'm not a Tomatoholic.

I like peppers okra onions and melons.
Worth

[StrongPlant]

Lol I know what you mean.I started 3 years ago with just a few plants.When I saw how many varieties there actually are(here everyone grows the same ones,I didn't even know there are tomatoes of different colors other than red).Then I also got into breeding.

This year I have 150+ plants and 20+ different varieties with a couple of wild species too.I can't even imagine what will grow in my garden in a few years.It is madness

[bower]

A few thoughts on the subject:

" One of the most obvious and complex coevolutionary relationships are the mutualisms that have evolved between plants bearing fleshy fruits and vertebrate animals, which serve to disperse the seeds in these fruits." etcetera.
http://lifeofplant.blogspot.ca/2011/05/coevolution.html

Note the judicious use of the word "SERVE" to describe our relationship to fruiting plants.
They came before us, and we arose to serve them by dispersing (and in the tomato-human case, saving, collecting, exchanging, cross-breeding thereby diversifying... and probably carrying to outer space should we manage to do so) their seeds.

Among fruiting plants, the tomato is a wily vine, mistress of great bounty and purveyor of an endless variety of nutritious delights which can hardly be resisted once the fruits have been tasted, so that the hapless animal is soon enslaved. There is no doubt in my mind as to which partner in this relationship is running the show, although she is a generous mistress who keeps her slaves in good health and well fed for their service. She must be tended, loved, and revered in a manner we can scarcely resist. Her seeds in all diversity must be lovingly saved, shared, adapted to new niches, and maintained by growing around the globe. For the greater good of the tomato, we serve.

Welcome to the fold, Spike.

[clkeiper]

I was thinking I was cutting back this year, too. I only have 100 in the high tunnel. 35 ultra pinks, 70 pastes and I need to get another row of this and that in yet... oh I forgot... another row of cherries and big beef to a total of about 35, too. that is 235 tomatoes... gulp.

[AlittleSalt]

lol, welcome to tomatoholic-ville

[OzoneNY]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Well I'm not a Tomatoholic.

I like peppers okra onions and melons.
Worth

Denial.....

[Nematode]

It's like an alcoholic joining the moonshine /wine/beer forums.
We won't help you quit but if you need an accomplice, we are good to go.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Nematode

It's like an alcoholic joining the moonshine /wine/beer forums.
We won't help you quit but if you need an accomplice, we are good to go.

truth.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Well I'm not a Tomatoholic.

I like peppers okra onions and melons.
Worth

If only you could plant briskets.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by Nematode

It's like an alcoholic joining the moonshine /wine/beer forums.
We won't help you quit but if you need an accomplice, we are good to go.

Shouldn't have mentioned moonshine. There's a variety called Moonshiner's Ball, and you may start a run on available seeds.

[jtjmartin]

It's a wonderful addiction and diversion . . . and Tomatoville does not help!

I just got my first NEEM OIL in today and I'm watching the clock to use my first (weakened) BLEACH SPRAY on my LEAN AND LOWER TRELLISED TOMATOES!!!

The addiction grows! (Sorry for the yelling. )

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Well I'm not a Tomatoholic.

I like peppers okra onions and melons.
Worth

Yeah Worth you are like me. We are both like winos who will also drink, vodka, beer, whiskey, rum and gin.

I know I like other things in the garden too. But it is this tomato addiction that makes it so compelling. I spend more time looking at, caring for and thinking about my tomatoes than everything else in the garden. The sad thing is I am doing this even in the winter when all I have is cabbage, carrots, broccoli, lettuce and the like to look after.

Bill