Tomatoes

Neither of my daughters likes tomatoes.  They will only eat them if they are cooked into a sauce, soup, or stew and will consume jars of salsa like no one else.  Give them a fresh tomato from the garden and they will peel it off the sandwich or salad to which it has been added.  I do not understand how they can enjoy a BLT without the T.  Fresh cherry tomatoes warm from the sun are perfect for popping in your mouth straight from the vine.

I give my younger daughter credit for trying.  As she nears 17 she is trying new foods much more frequently.  She actually put some tomato on her BLT the other night (it was store bought) and decided it still wasn't to her liking.  This year is finally the year I have tomato plants worthy of a blue ribbon.  Septoria leaf spot has infected all the soil in my backyard and I can not keep leaves on the plants no matter what tricks I use to try and stop it.  I didn't plant tomatoes or peppers for 3 years in an attempt to eradicate the disease from my soil but it didn't stop it.  This year I have my plants along my south side of my house.  They are gorgeous, green monsters that are loaded with green fruits.   I have also trellised a cucumber plant in the back of them as this is another plant afflicted by the dreaded cucumber beetle.  My neighbor sprays so when the population rebounds it is all over my yard devouring the plants and infecting them with the deadly virus.  I might get a real cuke off my own plant this year.  There is a nice salad size one that I don't think will see sundown tomorrow.  The soaker hoses and grass clipping mulch have also been very helpful to this year's crop.  This picture is just a few weeks old and the plants have put on more than two feet of growth since.
Right next to the tomatoes on the other side of my walk is our Sweet Autumn Clematis.  It is passing the first floor and heading for the second.  It will be to the roof line by fall when it is loaded with white blooms.  This year it has a special function.  The vines grow up our front porch and along the underside of the porch ceiling at the corner on their way up the trellising to the second floor.  A cardinal family has found it a worth spot to make a nest.  I just discovered her last night as I was tucking in the stray ends.  She seems less nervous about us being around today and has stayed on the nest as we go in and out of the house at this door.  We can also see the nest from our living room so I am very excited about watching the new neighbors out the front window.  I hope to get a good picture to share.