Planting Tomatoes on the Back Porch

PJ came to me the other day with an idea: What if we planted tomatoes at home?

He planted some with Dixie last year at the farm, but because the farm is so far from our house and we weren’t there every single day, we couldn’t give them the love and attention they deserved, so they ended up not really working out the way we wanted.

PJ’s grandma always grew tomatoes when he was younger, and because he takes after her in so many ways, it only makes sense he would want to give planting them another go. My mom also grew tomatoes on our back porch when we were growing up, so it feels somewhat sweet and nostalgic that we would plant tomatoes in the same backyard that she did.

We went to Ace Hardware and picked out a few different varieties, Early Girl and Big Boy. PJ got some planters from the farm, along with some dirt and chicken poop for fertilizer. He gathered the kids on the back porch and they each got their own tomato plant, planter and soil, and they went to town breaking apart the soil, which is SO MUCH FUN.

PJ is a really good, patient teacher. He took his time explaining how to pour the dirt in the planter, pull it apart and move it around, dig a hole in the middle of the dirt 2X bigger than the tomato plant, and place the plant in the hole. He made it easy for the kids to follow and learn, and in about 30 minutes, they had all the tomato plants planted!

I don’t have a green thumb, and if it wasn’t for PJ, we wouldn’t have any plants in or outside of the house. I really want to get better about it, and I would love to plant something we eat all the time soon. Maybe cucumbers? The kids eat them like chips. Maybe basil? I made pasta constantly. Something along those lines would be wonderful.