tomatoes – Alexandria in Love

First Tomato and Roe v. Wade

Posted on June 26, 2022June 26, 2022

We have our first tomato coming in 💚

When my daughter was young, one of my favorite books to read to her was First Tomato: Voyage to the Bunny Planet by Rosemary Wells (and my blog subtitle is a little nod to this book). It’s about a bunny named Claire who is having a terrible wintry day, and finds solace when the bunny queen takes her to the bunny planet:

“Far beyond the moon and stars,

Twenty light years south of Mars,

Spins the gentle Bunny Planet.

And the Bunny Queen is Janet.”

On the bunny planet, Claire has “the day that should have been” and wanders through her mother’s wonderful earthy garden to pick the first tomato.

We love this book and my daughter and I have read it together many, many times.

Now, our first tomato came on the heels of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which my daughter, now 22, discussed with me this weekend. I don’t get on Facebook much because I don’t really like the platform but I do have one because some of my family members like to keep in touch on there and for events and site-related things. I have some distant relatives who were celebrating the court decision, and even though my daughter hardly uses Facebook, she asked me why I didn’t unfriend them, saying “how can you be friends with someone who doesn’t think you should have rights?” As usual, she had a very good point.

In real life, now that I think about it, I don’t have friends who don’t think I should have rights (and it applies to more than this situation). How can they denigrate women so much that they don’t trust their instincts about what is best for their own bodies? How can they stake a claim on such a personal issue? Pregnancy choices are complex, deeply personal, and private issues that should not be violated. The reality is, people will still have abortions, only the rich will find safe means and more poor people will die because of this.

Strange that my first tomato came at this sad time, but I still hope for “the day that should have been,” a day when women will be respected, and a day where all of our rights cannot be dropped alarmingly with a snap of a finger.

After the Rain

Posted on May 7, 2022

After a week or so of heavy downpours, most of my new plants are thriving, especially my tomatoes, which were only about three inches high when I first planted them a few weeks ago. So I placed some stakes in the pot for them to climb on.

My herbs also look beautiful. First, I think I need to start utilizing all of this wonderful dill that’s growing so quickly in the back!

Some of the plants in the vegetable garden look like they had a rough time in the storms (or with the dogs), but most are faring well.

And my Columbine and Moonflowers have started blooming! 😍

Verdant April

Posted on April 20, 2022April 20, 2022

April has witnessed another spring metamorphosis in Oklahoma, when everything turns green and blooms with pops of color, and when the sky shifts from sunny to dark grey, and pops with thunder and lightning, and then to sunny again.

And once again my good friends and I did our annual garden shopping, which is an exciting time for me! This year I got a bunch of herbs and tomatoes for front porch containers; shishito peppers, gherkin cucumbers, zucchini, and two different types of watermelon for the raised bed vegetable garden; and a few lovely flowers for the front yard. We went to a farm at Robinson Ranch and Southwood Garden Center to shop for plants.

My wooden raised beds deteriorated this year, so I bought a metal one and put it together a few days ago. Then I covered the ground with four layers of landscaping ground cover (because one layer never keeps out the grass here), placed the raised bed on top, and surrounded it with landscaping stones, which also covered the landscaping cover on the sides of the raised bed. I bought soil for vegetable gardens and a few bags of mulch for the garden. I mixed it with mulch to improve drainage. And finally, I planted my beautiful little veggie plants in it.

For the herb garden, I did something different and placed all of the herbs on one big container. Here we have three different types of basil, dill, cilantro, mint, and lemongrass.

And finally, flowers for the yard, with a fresh layer of soil and some mulch. This year I planted gorgeous columbine and moonflowers.

And now we are about to get a warm rain, which is exactly what my little plants need after being introduced to their new homes 🌧️