When nature needs help.

Here's my pet tomato plant before I put it outside.  I cant believe how well it grew.  I almost killed it at first. It was one of those arrangements were all the seeds are in a little peat pod that you just shove in the ground and water. Well, it took so long to germinate that I thought it was a dud.  I stacked up the pots I had placed the pods in, next thing I knew when I went to chuck them out there were tomato plants in them! 

Here they are don't they look nice? I'm very proud of them. I had to keep them on the sun porch in the beginning because we had such a cold snap in January, I wasn't about to loose them at that point. 

Here's where the helping nature comes in. Tomatoes need to be pollinated one way or another and they certainly won't get pollinated any way at all while inside on a sun porch.  So using a trick I learned while working in a hydroponic greenhouse during my younger years, I grabbed a trusty toothbrush (battery operated) and vibrated it on the top back of each blossom.  Pollinating in this way shakes the pollen down onto the pistils and, ta da, I'm natures little helper. 

And I must be a good helper too, look at my little babies coming along.  Even after I transplanted the group to a much bigger container and moved it outside to a sheltered position I still hand pollinate. I'm sure I don't have to pollinate by had now but why take the chance when I only have this little group of tomatoes that I can lavish such attention on.  

Now I just have to keep them fed and watered till May. I hope to get some nice red tomatoes before I head home and give the whole plant to someone down here. 

Gosh, there is just no end to the surprises that nature shows you, we just have to give her time and look.

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