True Love & Homegrown Tomatoes

Homegrown Tomatoes, by Guy Clark

Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin' out in the garden
Get you a ripe one don't get a hard one
Plant `em in the spring eat `em in the summer
All winter without `em's a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes

You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure
Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew
You can make your very own tomato juice
Eat `em with eggs, eat `em with gravy
Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy
Put `em on the side, put `em in the middle
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

If I's to change this life I lead
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see
When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetary
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes


I know these poor plants don't look like much, but boy have we had plenty of great tomatoes for the last couple of months. Now they may be starting to slow down a bit, but they're still coming in.

I think I heard that song only once, but the chorus still runs through my head whenever I go out tomato pickin'.

DH fenced the backyard to keep the dog in (no luck there) and the deer out (so far, so good), and now we can have homegrown tomatoes. Due to the lack of much of any topsoil (rocks don't count) and the generally desert-like conditions of our patio (could it have anything to do with my failure to water?), I jumped at this when I saw it: Tomato Success Kit from Gardeners.com. I put in one cherry tomato plant and one "Early Girl" tomato plant from the local nursery, and -- yum! The secret is the water reservoir in the bottom of the planter, which wicks up into the soil as needed.

Favorite way to serve them: diced with a few chopped fresh basil leaves, smidge of olive oil, salt & pepper, scoop onto crackers or sliced baguette. If we're feeling a bit decadent, we use Alouette cheese spread to hold 'em on the bread.

And now for the knitting content: I have finished four out of eleven (or so) Xmas projects. I might actually make it. All yarn and other materials are in (except -- still waiting for some additional 40" Addis that I ordered now that I'm a Magic Loop convert). Pix soon.