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Too Busy for Tomatoes

June 18, 2008 | 1 Comment

Post to the Host:
I bought three types of tomato plants this year. Two of them on purpose, and one as a Plan B so that, if I couldn't find the tomato I really wanted, I'd at least have something close to it. My curious question is: What type of tomatoes do folks in Lake Wobegon plant? Do they start their tomatoes from seed or do they buy tomato plants? As an aside, every time I plant a tomato plant or pick a ripe tomato or see a bruised tomato on the ground, I think of "Tomato Butt." It's my favorite.

P.S. I think it would be wonderful if you did a show in Cincinnati. Where else do you have people who celebrate with a Flying Pig?

Erin H.
Russellville, OH

Erin, we did a show in Cincinnati a year or so ago and had a big time and we look forward to going back, just as soon as the scandal dies down. As for tomatoes, the serious disciplined tomato grower always used to begin with seed in a tray of little starter cartons on a windowsill or in a sunny corner — why pay someone else to do what you can do better yourself? — but, like everything else, this has changed. People are busy. Back in the day, if you told my father, "I was just too busy to start my tomato seeds this year so I bought plants at the store," he would think you had your priorities wrong, or that your life was crazy — possibly you were carrying on a life of crime on the side, or maybe you had come down with a nasty illness — but nowadays "I was too busy" is widely accepted as an excuse for almost anything. I believe that the Big Boys and the Beefeaters are still the dominant tomatoes in Lake Wobegon but I haven't been up there this spring. I've been too busy.

1 Comment

Andrea A | July 3, 2008 2:36 PM

I love The News from Lake Wobegon segments that discuss tomatoes. My parents grew tomatoes and I grow them now. There's nothing like a home grown tomato whether it's a cherry tomato or the Big Boys. There's nothing like getting the dirt down one's fingernails and into the creases of one's palms. And then there's that tomato plant smell that reminds me of summer.