How many of you have grown tomatoes that get so overgrown, they just collapse on the ground? I hope I’m not the only one.

No matter how much I stake them, or cage them, or use plant netting, it’s just a big ole pile of stalks and leaves with a shiny glint of red tomato way down at the bottom.

Look how cute they looked, when I optimistically thought Hortonova netting would keep them upright until the end of the season.

So what am I, a flower farmer, doing growing tomatoes? This summer I did a series of workshops at my local libraries on the language of flowers. I wanted to grow some unusual flowers to make the workshop more fun, and immediately thought of deadly nightshade (common meaning: liar or deception). However, I figured the libraries might frown on bringing a poisonous plant to the workshop.

But the Deadly Nightshade/Belladonna is in the Solanaceae family, which includes tomatoes. Voila! A non-toxic substitute.

So I went on a fun tomato hunt to use in bouquets, and found this one, Indigo Cherry Drops.

Well, the plan didn’t go as expected because I would need to cut off the entire top of the plant to get the tomatoes in an arrangement, so I just used the leaves. Not nearly as exciting, I might add.

I used two layers of Hortonova netting to keep the tomatoes upright but these cherry tomatoes are heavy. This is the big pile I’ve been looking at for a couple weeks now.

Those are Giant Yellow Marigolds growing in there too.

The time came when I couldn’t stand it any longer, and I needed to clean it up. First I cut away all the netting, then I staked up each branch. I sacrificed some branches in the effort, and many, many green tomatoes went rolling across the lawn.

After a few hours, all the plants were fairly upright and looking good.

I picked a generous harvest too. The Indigo Drops are very meaty and delish!

[There are some ‘regular’ tomatoes plants in there too. The grands all have their own little plots and they all wanted to grow tomatoes. I planted the leftovers.]

Not to worry, though. I’ve still got plenty of flowers. Can you see the magenta dot in the right pic, over to the left? That’s my FIRST dahlia!

I’ve been picking like mad! Are you enjoying the fruits/flowers/vegetables of your labor? Hugs, Pam