gratitude 101wither up straightaway and die. They have lots of stories to back this up.
They do not wish to discuss whether plants have ears, or what. Just don’t.
So we knew what our neighbor was trying not to say. We refrained
from saying “You’re welcome,” had a nice Sunday afternoon visit, and
managed not to jinx this plant—it grew well. Of all the tomato plants that
ultimately thrived in her garden, she told us the Silvery Fir Tree was the
first to bear.
/On the week of May 9 we set out our own tomatoes, fourteen varieties
in all: first, for early yields, Silvery Fir Tree and Siberian Early, two Rus-
sian types that get down to work with proletarian resolve, bred as they
were for short summers. For a more languid work ethic but juicy mid-
season flavor we grow Brandywines, Cherokee Purples, orange Jaune
Flammes, and Green Zebra, which is lemony and bright green striped
when fully ripe. For spaghetti sauces and canning, Martino’s Roma; Prin-
cipe Borghese is an Italian bred specifically for sun- drying. Everything we
grow has its reason, usually practical but sometimes eccentric, like the
Dolly Partons given us by an elderly seed- saving friend. (“What do the to-
matoes look like?” I asked. She cupped her hands around two enormous
imaginary orbs and mugged, “Do you have to ask?”) Most unusual, prob-
ably, is an old variety called Long Keeper. The fruits never fully ripen on
the vine, but when harvested and wrapped in newspaper before frost,
they slowly ripen by December.
That’s just the tomatoes. Also in the second week of May we set
out pepper seedlings and direct- seeded the corn, edamame, beets, and
okra. Squash and cucumber plants went into hills under long tents of
row-cover fabric to protect them from cool nights. We weeded the onions,
pea vines, and potatoes; we planted seeds of chard, bush beans, and
sunflowers, made bamboo tepees for the pole beans, and weathered
some spring thunderstorms. That’s one good week in food- growing
country.
By mid- month, once warmth was assured, we and all our neighbors set
out our sweet potato vines (there was a small melee down at the Southern
States co-op when the management underordered sweet- potato sets). We