Yesterday when I was at my mom's I saw her very tall tomato plant. Every year she plants one tomato plant and hopes that it makes it (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). Every year I plant twelve tomato plants and hope that they make it. What makes her plant different than mine is that my mom abides by the simple law of Only The Strong Survive. This means that she doesn't cage her tomato, she doesn't stake it in anyway, and just props it up against the deck railing. She doesn't water it, doesn't weed it and doesn't even rotate her planting. I rotate my tomato plants every year, water them, weed them and cage them. Guess whose tomato plant did the best this year?

This made me so mad that today I pulled up all of my tomato plants. I figure if they haven't given me tomatoes yet, they aren't going to start now. The bottoms had started dying off, anyway, so it was only a matter of a few weeks before they would have to come out anyway. I just started the garden clean up a little early this year, that's all.

My pumpkin vines are dying off faster than I can water and weed them but I do have three butternut squashes growing! I know it's only three, but it's something. The green peppers and black beans are still going strong. I'm not getting as many peppers as usual, but I've been hearing that from everyone so I will not count that against myself.

I think I will head to the Tipton Farmer's Market tonight- I've never been- and see if anyone has a lot of tomatoes I can buy. Perhaps they will have pie pumpkins as well- I'm almost out of pumpkin butter and that needs to be made this year. I only have to buy, like, ten, as opposed to the thirty that I grew a couple of years ago. Ten will be enough. I think.