A Creative Way to Kill a Tomato Plant

Lexi Sundell — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:16:58 +0000

I thought I had killed a plant just about every way possible. Overwatering and underwatering both can kill. Planting too deep, and planting too shallow can be equally lethal. Tractor tires running over a plant are more than a little detrimental.

The wind and hail flattened a few. Freezing temperatures can be brutal and so can excessive heat. Misadventures in transplanting, such as dropping an unsuspecting plant on the floor upside down in its pot, have been terminal events for some plants.

The list goes on and on. As I said, I thought I had completely explored all ways possible to inadvertently murder plants. However, that was before I spoke with my daughter on the phone yesterday.

She reported that they had managed to electrocute one hapless tomato plant! Yeeks! How on earth do you electrocute a tomato plant?

It seems they recently acquired two cats that showed excessive interest in the seedlings. The logical thing, to my daughter, was to build an electric fence around the seedlings to deter the cats.

You have to understand this is the same daughter who nearly gave me a heart attack in Arizona when she was in third grade. I had foolishly bought her an electronic lab kit to further her education. She also had an extensive Lego collection.

I was totally unprepared for what happened one peaceful hot afternoon when I went to the fridge to get some iced tea. Opening the door activated the electric eye on the lab kit on the bottom shelf.

The lab kit began a high pitched squeal and turned on the electric motor for the Lego contraption on the next shelf. The motor rotated an asymmetrical arm which clanked on the shelf at every turn, at the same time operating a pulley system. The pulley system made a red plastic lobster bounce up and down on the top shelf.

This event greatly reduced my regard for the values of education. Fortunately, I survived the experience, unlike the tomato plant.

The fence worked beautifully to discourage the kitties, but calamity struck when one tomato somehow fell on the fence. The current fried the poor thing. Maybe that one died for the greater good of the others, as the cats otherwise would have destroyed them all by now.

Add one more way to kill a plant to the list. And what, may I ask, is your most unusual way of causing the demise of a plant?

Note: You might want to check out the comments on this one!

Happiness is a Tomato Plant

Lexi Sundell — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 14:23:38 +0000

I live in a difficult cold climate with a short growing season so luscious vine ripened tomatoes are hard to find here. Outdoors the tomato plants resent the cool nights of our summers and rarely ripen fruit. Since I love tomatoes right off the vine, I grow my plants in a large hoop house.

Over time I have evolved a method of growing my tomatoes that works well under these conditions. I usually produce an avalanche of tomatoes all summer and into the fall, which I am happy to share with my friends. Everyone offers to buy them, but I take my greatest happiness in giving my surplus tomatoes to others.

My seeds for this year’s crop are now germinating and each morning I go to the insulated and heated section of the hoop house to see what new babies are ready to go into their pots from the flats in the hot frame.

It is surprising how much joy these tiny sprigs with wee leaves bring to my heart. In those tiny and fragile beings lies the mystery and joy of all creative energy, as life valiantly springs forth to become vigorous and abundant from such ephemeral beginnings.

As I pot them, I learn from these tiny plants to nurture and trust that which is vital and alive in me, and an ever widening ripple of happiness spreads through my life.

This post now appears on the Happiness Carnival hosted by Miguel Trujillo. I reccommend you go read the other fine articles in the carnival for additional uplifting thoughts.

Energies of Creation » Garden Plants

A Creative Way to Kill a Tomato Plant

Happiness is a Tomato Plant