I am a beginning gardener, and though my goal this spring was to start a cutting garden, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a few homegrown tomatoes. Yum! I did my part: I prepared good soil; I planted a healthy plant; I watered it and provided fertilizer; I even put in stakes for support. And I watched and waited. As the plant grew, I was fascinated with the tiny blooms and subsequent fruit growing. I was disheartened when one of the branches grew so heavy with new fruit that it broke from the vine. Did those tomatoes continue to mature and ripen? No! Did the vine continue to produce new blooms and fruit? No. Disconnected from the source of all its needs, the vine and its fruit withered and wasted away. I tossed it into a pile of yard rubbish destined to be burned.
