If you ask a certain quadrant of my friends, they’ll tell you I hang onto things a little too long. Even when the decision has been made for me, I’ll stick by whatever I’m working on at the time, hold onto it until all signs point so clearly to stop that I can’t help but bail out.
And so, it should come as no surprise to any of them that I have not yet given up on the hanging tomato.
It is not that the thing hasn’t produced any fruit. Actually, it has produced four quite lovely green yellow pear tomatoes, none of which look any less green than they did the day they were born. They might ripen eventually, but the fact is, they probably won’t, and haven’t I learned the hard way that sometimes things just need to be what they’re going to be and die a natural death without my intervening or otherwise standing in the way?
Apparently I haven’t learned my lesson, because I have a struggling tomato plant hanging off my front porch.
Last week, Maggie and Heal stopped by to drop off some equipment they borrowed for their reception, and Maggie inspected the plant. “It looks like it’s putting out roots,” she said.
“Oh dear,” I said, “I was wondering what those bumps were.”
I had just been chalking the little bumps up to some sort of disease that tomato plants-in-hanging-baskets are prone to, but that it might be roots had never occurred to me. And it also occurred to me that perhaps the reason the stupid plant was putting out roots is because it is hungry and thirsty, which means I’m starving it.
Which makes me mean.
I am not into cruelty to anything, including plants, which has finally led me to the conclusion that I need to yank the hanging tomato. It’s starving to death and, therefore, putting out extra roots that it probably doesn’t need. It hasn’t produced a single ripe fruit, and Fall’s coming quickly.
But here’s the thing. Now I feel like I need to get rid of the thing. Need to relegate it (and the non-blooming Narcissus that goes along with it) to the compost pile. But I’m kind of liking having something hanging on my porch, even if I forget to water it. I kind of want to put something else out there.
So. Fall flowers that work in hanging baskets. Any good ideas from the peanut gallery?
No Ideas here, But it is hard to let things go for me as well. I am needing to rip out some cherry tomatoes in order to prep for a fall garden. But I hate to rip out things which are green and growing still. But I have had enough cherry tomatoes for the year.
It’s not a flower, but I have a hanging Wandering Jew plant from my mother-in-law that grows like crazy and seems pretty forgiving when I forget to water it. It’s not in direct sun, though.
And my favorite fall flower–okay, the only one I know well enough to name–is the aster, but I don’t know anything about flower baskets so I don’t know whether it would be appropriate.
You, hang on too long? Nah, never. I say turn over a new leaf (pun intended) and put that tomato plant in the compost pile where it belongs. Then, go out and buy yourself the most beautiful fall flowers you can find (I like purple mums, myself). Sometimes the best thing about getting rid of something is the great things that come along and take its place.
Nothing says fall like mums. There’s such a large variety that the degree of sun your porch area gets probably has a type of mums that would love that area.
Growthumbs, I don’t know that I’d ever have enough cherry tomatoes, but I have definitely had enough yellow pear tomatoes…for sure…
Jenny #1, I’ll definitely have to check out asters. I wonder if I could mix them with mums?
Jenny #2, purple mums…sounds intriguing. I will take that idea to the garden center…
Cheryl, thanks for the reminder. There’ll be even less sun on the porch in the fall, so I’ll keep that in mind.
Are you calling me a peanut? I gave up on hanging baskets a long long time ago. They were unhappy; I was unhappy. It was not a happy situation.
What I love, though, is a really full wandering nasturtium in a hanging pot … they are just lovely with the added plus that you can amaze your non-gardener friends by putting them in salads, which they think is so clever and creative.
But it’s likely not a good thing to start now … unless you can find one at the ready somewhere …
Wow. Two Jennys. How confusing.
AB, actually, I had a nasturtium in there, too, but it never bloomed. Just put out the leaves. Luckily, I really dig the nasturtium leaves — all starry in the center.
I’m trying to get a little better about the hanging basket business. Actually, I didn’t do too badly with the whole watering thing this summer. Forgot sometimes, but usually managed to catch back up.
I’m getting better at allowing things to go their way when they don’t produce but I know the feeling…I know the feeling.
Is it fall? As we’re still dealing with 100+ temperatures, it’s hard to believe fall is so close upon us.
It may be more of an indoor plant, but another plant that does ok with full sun and little to no water is a kalanchoe.
How about that, me offering actual garden-type advice and not just smart-ass comments on why you need to move back to the east coast! :)
A swedish ivy would look nice. I like the wandering jew idea–they make fabulous hanging plants. It’s hard to kill a spider plant and they grow like mad.
When I was much younger I lived in a house and had absolutely beautiful swedish ivies hanging on the front porch. One morning I woke up and discovered that they were ALL GONE. Yep. Someone else thought they were lovely too and stole the plants. I was more angry about that than when they stole my television set!
Thankfully, I live in a better zip code now.
–Robin (Bumblebee)
Me, I would prefer things go MY way. Not their own way. :-)
NCHeather, I love your gardening advice! I have never even heard of that plant…am going to have to check it out.
Robin, stealing your ivy is an actionable offense, for sure…