Toh-MAY-toh, Toh-Mah-Toh

If you were to ask about how my tomatoes are growing, you’d have to be more specific.

If you wondered about the tomatoes I planted at the community garden, I’d say there are mixed results.

If you meant the tomatoes that planted themselves in unexpected places, I’d tell you that they are growing like teenagers.

Some weeks back I noticed some pointy green leaves growing amid succulents in a hanging planter. I didn’t think much of it until the leaves and stalk continued to grow and starting resembling a tomato plant. Say what?

At approximately the same time, a plant began growing in the middle of a barrel of Agapanthus. This surprise centerpiece is a tomato plant, too.

 

I’m not going to try to move them. I simply water them and watch them grow.

But let’s indulge ourselves for a moment and roll our eyes at the irony:

I plant tomato seeds and seedlings several summers. The results are not exactly impressive. The seeds never make it. The seedlings grow but my tomato yield (if such a term can be applied to a very limited total) would not be enough to make salsa for three tortilla chips!

However, the tomato plants I did not plant are growing like weeds. I’m grateful they’re growing—don’t get me wrong—but please! The unpredictability of this just has my head spinning. I like my effort to yield results and when my effort met tomato misfortune, I was bummed. However, I seem to be the surprised recipient of a consolation prize. The universe is giving me something we all thought didn’t exist: a free lunch. It’s a free lunch of tomatoes with a side of tomatoes, which will be ready at some point this summer.

Okay. I’ll just go with it. I’m still a little annoyed that my efforts sometimes don’t yield results, but I suppose I should just embrace the surprises that gardening involves. Mother Nature works in mysterious ways…