My sisters will roll their eyes

And think of our dad when they see my solution to making sure that my tomato plant does not blow over when the thunderstorm rolls through. As you might remember I have to grow my tomatoes in pots on the deck - it is an agreement I have with the deer. And an agreement I have with the company that cleans the deck is not to have pots sitting directly on the surface of the deck.

So my plants are in big pots which sit on saucers that have wheels underneath. This works out well to begin with as when there is a storm brewing I whip outside and just wheel the pots over against the wall of the house out of the way of the wind. But once the plants grow bigger I lose that option. By then I have to start my cringe inducing campaign. The first step is to take long lengths of fabric selvedge and I tie the pots to the railing. Although this helps the pot to not fall over the wind that blows through just before a thunderstorm defies that and can topple the pot which is really bad for the plant. So the next step is to "chock" the wheels of the saucer like a airplane on the runway.

But last week I had to take an additional step - I dragged over the outside chairs and placed them strategically against the pots so the chair back would hold up the tomato stake system and then I loaded old paver stones on the chair to give it some weight. And my plants have remained upright.


This season it is the yellow cherry tomato which is producing the best tasting tomatoes. I really think I should no longer buy the grape tomatoes as they do not seem to do well at all.

The intense heat and humidity we had in the month of July has not been kind to the plants but I am picking quite an amount of fruit. Now if we could just keep up with eating them! Sometimes during the day as I pass by the bowl on the kitchen counter I will pop a few in my mouth as a snack and they are good that way.

How is your garden doing this season? It is not clear from any of these photos but this year I have three tomato plants on the deck; a yellow cherry, a red grape and a red cherry. Oh, I was going to take a photo or two of the "volunteers" that are growing out down by the patio and are also now producing ripe fruit, but I forgot. Maybe another day.