I always loved John Denver's song about "home grown tomatoes." Having moved into a rented condominium with no space for a garden and a small patio, my husband and I invested in three large pots and some healthy-looking tomato plants this spring. We bought some dirt and fertilizer and were well on our way to eating some of those home grown tomatoes. My husband faithfully watered and fertilized our plants and I nipped off the sucker vines. We watched and waited and finally our plants started to produce the fruit we had anticipated. Though I was disappointed in their size, I could not have been happier with the taste. We carefully recorded on our calendar the number we harvested and we savored every bite we ate.

Each day we checked on "our boys" as we referred to our plants. They grew and grew and became so heavy that we had to tie them to stakes. Then we had to add extensions to the stakes as they continued to grow. It is now mid-October and our tallest plant is about seven feet high and has tomatoes growing all up and down the stalk in varying stages of ripeness. The cooler weather means that our plant probably will not grow any more and production of fruit has slowed somewhat.

For sure we will be planting our pots with tomatoes next spring. We have learned a few things this year about potted tomato plants. We will be watering them more and fertilizing them with a stronger solution than the box advises Perhpas we can stake them to the nearby tree and use a ladder to pick the tomatoes.

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