Volunteer Tomatoes

With my breakfast this morning, I ate a tomato from the volunteer tomato plant on the side hill. It’s a relatively tiny plant that popped up where grass and shrubs grow. It’s not a variety of tomato that I planted, so the seed was shared by a squirrel or bird, from some other garden, in the way that animals do.

It was the most delicious large tomato I’ve eaten this season.

Our “planned” tomato plants have been prolific. The small, orange, cherry tomatoes have been exquisite. Sweet and juicy and a slight crunch as the skin breaks.

The large tomatoes might have been purchased from the store: really large, red or orange, firm…and tasteless. We’ve eaten them doused in balsamic vinegar and liberally sprinkled with salt, but I’ve wondered how a home gardener can grow a tasteless, organic tomato. It truly takes a special skill.

So on this morning, I was grateful for the unexpected gift tomato plant. It restored my faith in large tomatoes being able to carry flavor. And reminded me of the little things, which can turn into big things. I considered pulling that tomato plant out when I worked on that hill…it wasn’t planned for that space. But as a perpetually hopeful and ever-novice gardener, I knew not to destroy the gift.

Because, as my brother always used to sing, “Home-grown tomatoes, home-grown tomatoes, what’d life be without home-grown tomatoes?”

What would it be indeed.