Recently while visiting an estate sale, I noticed nine tubs of tomato plants across the street. The vines were huge, and there were lots of tomatoes on each. I knew I had to interview this Colorado gardener.
I stopped by, and luckily he was home. He gave me an earful - he has been doing this awhile and was very eager to share. Not realizing I was going to get so much information, I had brought only a scrap of paper with me. As we sat on his front porch, I scribbled frantically on that scrap poised on my knee. I wanted to get it all.
I asked him if I could come back towards spring to document his process, and he agreed. Today is the first installment of the preliminaries, and I will continue until I run out of notes.
Physical layout: As shown in the picture below, his gardening tubs run down the property line of his shared driveway and on the westside of his house. There are no shade trees blocking the hot-afternoon Colorado sun. Although he has a few tomato plants in the back yard, the vast majority are here as heat and sunshine are very important.
Between the Sunday estate sale and my interview, the Tomato Guy harvested the last of his crop and tore out the vines. He thought his crop could have lasted longer into the fall; but for three weeks during the heat of August, he was on vacation and a substitute watered them. Watering tomato plants in bloom and in fruit is tricky, and they were never the same again.
Someone in his neighborhood bothers his plants, so he installed a surveillance system. Hence the sign.
To be continued...
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