How I did it: Did just what a million people have done before me:

1. Prepared a bed (using the square-foot-gardening method as an experiment).
2. Bought three healthy, big, heirloom-tomato starts (English Yellow Perfection, Black Brandywine and one whose name I forget) and planted them. The one that ripened first (and only? Am waiting on the rest) was the EYP.
3. Watched them, watered them, put on no extra fertilizer because I'm clueless about that sort of thing.
4. One ripened. I ate it. End of story. Achievement of goal!

Lessons & tips: 1. Enjoy the journey. Every part of the process was interesting, the planting, the general all-around growth of the plants, the flowers, the adorable baby tomatoes, no bigger than a pencil eraser, even watching spiders find your plants and make a home in them.
2. Be patient.
3. Buy beefy, healthy starts. (I don't have the patience to grow tomato from seed.)
4. Don't imagine for a moment you're going to save money on your grocery bill, but what you do get for all your effort is so much better than what you would get at a store.

Resources: 1.  Square-foot-gardening web site
2.  Swanson's Nursery and People's Mercantile (Seattle area)
3.  Mother Nature!

Jul 23, 03:45PM PDT | 1 comment | 2 cheers