My grandmother grew tomatoes so I grew up loving and eating tomatoes from her farm and backyard.  It’s hard describe the taste  of a just picked cherry tomato off the vine or a home grown beefy tomato on a BLT.  There is just nothing like it for tomato lovers.  My wife’s father grows tomatoes too, so we usually wait for his gift of the juicy red fruit vegetable over the summer.  My boys love fresh tomatoes like me.

In the past for reasons unknown, I’ve been reluctant to grown tomatoes in the backyard.  Recently a guy I coach youth football with told me he was going to start growing tomatoes in his backyard.  Now this piqued my interest.  I asked him several questions which he answered but I needed more information.  Ya, see I am an information geek.  More information is always better.  At lease for me.  So I started my Google research process and came across the book  The Texas Tomato Lovers Handbook on Amazon.  This is a great book for a newbie Tx tomato grower.

After reading the book cover to cover in one afternoon, I was still unsure if I should start the process, since my tomato growing coaching friend spent close to $200 getting his tomato patch jump started.  Would we eat $200 worth of tomatoes?  I wasn’t convinced my $200 grand tomato experiment would yield tasty tomatoes like my grandmothers.

Then the stars aligned and my wife”s father was in town for the weekend and my friend also had a small party for the youth football coaches at his house.  The coach showed me his tomato patch and peppers and they looked great.  Once seeing the patch and how he was able to quickly grow a few bushes, I decided to start asking my wife’s father for his tomato growing secrets.  After grilling my father in law, I start making my list of tomato growing supplies.

1. Tomato Plants that do well in Texas; Celebrity, Champion, Jet Star, German Johnson
2. 20 to 50 Gallon pots
3. Potting Soil
4. Tomato Plant Food
5. Tomato Cages
6. Sprayer
7. Coffee Cans / Tin Cans / Terra Cotta pots for watering
8. Small Pebbles / Rocks
9. Tomato Plant Bug Spray / Worm Killer
10. Garden Gloves

Day 3