I made a tomato!!

I've plucked a few beans off a vine several times in the last month, but this feels like the first honest to goodness "harvest." A lush, vibrant red tomato, just begging to be eaten with a little salt. A tomato! I did that!!

There are a couple of others ripening on the vine, but they're far smaller. Perhaps 2 or 3 green ones as well. That may be it for this vine. But heck, what did I want for a buck and not getting them in until July? There are a couple of cherry tomatoes ripening, too.

I was extremely suprised when I went out yesterday and discovered seedlings sprouting from all 4 new containers. At first, I thought perhaps they were weeds...they were as delicate as new clover. But the seedlings in the two greens containers seemed exactly alike, yet different than what was growing in the radish/carrot box. The peas were very obviously little tendrils, not weeds. I called my dad to confirm that these could, in fact, be my plants. I don't know why it suprises me that they'd come up in a matter of days, but I was just out there two days ago and didn't see a whit of green. Now they're a couple of inches tall! And a bit of an embarassment, as it's now perfectly clear how overboard I went with the salad green seeds. Oh, dear. There are about 8 million of them in there.

One other confirmation from my dad was more disheartening - I'd read on another garden blog that the female flowers of a cucumber look like cucumbers with a flower attached. I'd thought that these were already-pollinated fruits, but no. None of them seem to be getting big like everything else, so I fear there will be no cucumbers. I should have planted flowers to attract more bees; we really didn't get very many.

And now, a moment of silent for my canteloupe plant, which I ripped out last night in frustration. Despite a liberal dosing of inhibitor this weekend, it was mottled with yellowed holes, and I'm tired of wasting time and resources on it. It was never going to actually bear fruit anyway. If I plant it next year, I think I'll put it in a raised container, so it has a chance to air out between storms. I'm much sadder about my herb window box - I think our neighbors well and truly killed both sage and oregano when they sent it toppling 2 stories down. The basil is barely hanging on. The new farmer's market I visited last weekend had a guy selling sage and rosemary seedlings. They also had the best peaches and blueberries I've tasted this year, so I think it's worth going back despite it being so much farther away.

Mostly, I'm just excited about my tomato. I did it! I grew something edible!