When I first expanded my garden craft into the realm of veg planting, I wanted to plant tomatoes. At the time, it seemed unlikely because I had no in-ground or raised bed space. It seemed even more unrealistic because I wanted to grow large tomatoes. I mean the big, slicer-sized tomatoes, and I only had space for containers!
I am one of those people who has to mull things over for a while before I decide to do it or not, but not this. After watching a couple of YouTubers talk about how they did it, it was on, I just knew I could do it too. I started researching but researched so much that I ran into paralysis by analysis. So, I decided to just get the seeds into a seedling container and worry about the rest later. After all, it was the end of March and I had plenty of time. I worried so much at first, and rightfully so, about container size, soil, sun, pests, etc. I decided to only tackle the things that I knew I could control, and I would worry about the rest later. So I took readings around my yard to see where I got the longest period of full sun, I figured out what I needed as the minimum container size and a basic soil mixture for tomatoes. I decided the pest problem could wait until later.
Fast forward 3 months later, it was the first week of May, and I was putting my tomato transplants into containers. It was at this moment that I thought "What if this doesn't work?". A sudden feeling of doubt and fear of failure crept over me. Fortunately, I decided to push those thoughts aside, planted those babies, with a "let the chips fall where they may" mentality. By the end of July, my little dream became reality. I WAS HARVESTING TOMATOES!!!
My first year growing tomatoes, and I had one plant that gave me some nice looking tomatoes, the Black Krim. My Brandywine never fruited, and my Romas gave me a lot of small-sized tomatoes. Even though they all died back fairly quickly from disease, I still considered it a big success. I knew this happened because that was the part of the research I never circled back around to, I just got too busy to do so amid the growing season. It quickly went on the things to do for next year's list.
In the end, what this experience taught me is to plant what you love. Plant what makes YOU happy. Don't be limited by self-doubt or what others do or say can't be done. If in doubt, plant it! The worst that can happen is you fail, but the upside is you learn. It's planting what you love that will keep you coming back for more.
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