If you gather sunshine, the smell of dirt and the essence of summer into a mixing bowl and tap it with a magic wand, I am positive a tomato would be the outcome. A fresh grown tomato cannot be imitated and proof of that is found in grocery stores in the dead of winter. Forget sub-zero temperatures, blizzards and ice storms..tasteless strawberries and tomatoes are the worst thing about winter.

I often imagine the reaction of the first person in history who discovered the tomato.  A big high five to them for picking a red ball off a plant and daring to take a bite!  I think tomatoes are especially tasty when  they are still warm, fresh from the vine in the sun and summer air. If you can’t tell, I love tomatoes almost as much as I love red wine….although I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned on my blog that I love red wine.

This year I planted Dahlia Boom Boom Red and tomatoes in my raised beds with the intention of the reds playing off each other visually. I know which one tastes better, but I’m not sure which is more delicious looking! Dahlias look great in the garden and they make pretty cut flowers in vases. I’ve never grown dahlias from tubers, so when I first planted them I thought to myself “This is never going to work.” But it did, and I’m pleased with the results!

I will be enjoying my dahlias inside soon enough, unfortunately, I have not been able to enjoy my tomatoes much this year. Last year I planted too many tomatoes and in order to make room for my dahlias, I opted to only grow 2 plants. It was not enough.

I am always on the look out for critters eating my tomatoes because I think a skunk or raccoon took off with a few last year. This year I have another tomato stealer in my garden….. this super cute little sprite!

I’ve seen her get out of bed on these lazy summer mornings, walk out in the back yard in her pajamas and help herself to breakfast. She is on constant tomato watch….looking for that red siren announcing ripeness from her bedroom window. She pulls them off the plant and eats them like an apple before I can harvest them! Next  year she will plant her own tomato plant(s) so that mommy can have some too! I’m awfully smitten with her and with a face like that (she told me this is her ‘sneaky tomato stealing face)….she can have them all. 🙂  I will miss summer and the tomato plants because then I will have to go back to cooking for her. Motherhood is a sacrifice!