This city slicker would not make a good farmer: Tomatoes! part 2

If you remember in a previous post, I took some tomato plants home that Deanna was giving away at the Ecology Center. The tomato plants were small and honestly, I wasn't sure they were going to survive. 7 of the 8 plants have survived and flourished, even the plant whose stem I cracked upon transplanting . I just tucked the cracked part into the soil in the hopes that roots would emerge from the damaged part. That plant is pretty small compared to the others and still isn't out of the woods as far as I'm concerned, but I'm starting to ramble.

I confess that I'm outside almost daily, butt up in the air and nose under the leaves searching for signs of fruit. About 2 weeks ago (maybe 3, I don't exactly remember), I noticed a little yellow flower on one of my tomato plants. Could it be? Last week I found a little round green lump where the yellow flower once bloomed.

This is what the tomato-to-be looked like this afternoon.  And there are more yellow flowers scattered across the various tomato plants. I feel like a parent of sorts, comparing the development of my tomato plants to others and wondering if my tomato babies are normal. Are we running on schedule? Am I doing something wrong? Why isn't there more fruit on my plants?

Maybe it's because this is my first set of tomatoes, but I think the plants are beautiful. I love going outside, touching the leaves and smelling the plants. I'm obsessed with them. I worry about them.

With all the worrying and obsessing, I don't think I would make a good farmer. I'm doing this on a very small scale. I can't imagine worrying about hundreds of acres of corn, soybeans or wheat or whatever else is growing in the fields. But then again, I do worry and obsess over my birds at times and I manage to sleep at night.

If this goes well, I may make a garden bed in the backyard next summer. Danno is happy over that thought because that means less grass to mow. But how does one build a garden bed? You know, one that is slightly elevated. Are there books? Is there a website?

I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I only have one itty bitty tomato to show for my watering and obsessing.