Back Porch Garden Update.

Back in April, William and I spent a weekend preparing our backyard for the summer. He built boxes to house my tomatoes in an overzealous back porch gardening experiment. I bought three varieties of tomato plants, a yellow bell pepper bush, and several herbs. For three months, I watched these plants like a hawk. The old saying "a watched pot never boils" is true, and I have learned that the several green thumbs in our family cannot make plants produce fruit any faster. For three months, I was overly anxious about the state of our tomatoes. I was starting to feel like I had made a mistake by planting them; I was feeling as though I maybe should've stuck to just buying fresh 'maters at the Durham Farmer's Market. But lo and behold, they started producing. At first, it was just the cherry tomatoes that seemed prolific. Then, slowly, the other (and larger) varieties started sprouting! There are sprouts EVERYWHERE, and we've got some really beautiful tomatoes. I feel validated as a Southern woman by my ability to produce tomatoes. My tomato anxiety is gone!

The yellow bell pepper plant is healthy, although certain bugs seem to really like to eat the leaves. And it has just started producing several tiny peppers in the last two days. According to my other back porch gardening buddies, this seems on par with their plants, too.

Who knew that gardening on your back porch would be so rewarding?