GardenBanter.co.uk

To each and all of you who expressed interest in the elderly lady
who lives alone in a forested part of the hills of Miller County,
Arkansas.

SHE IS STILL THERE !

Chick and I spent the week at our fishing camp an hour north
of Shreveport and this morning we drove up to check on her.
All the way, driving north on a gravel road running north
from State Line Road (Arkansas-Louisiana State Line) I was
dreading what I might find.

The dirt road, going back into the woods, looked a bit more
used, but as we approached where the cabin is, I could not
see it until we were within fifty feet of it. There was no trail
from the house to the dirt drive and my heart sank. Weeds
and bushes and small trees were growin all around and against
the cabin.

However, through the weeds and brush I could see something
bright red, as I got out of the pickup. It was a gasoline-powered
tiller.

She probably has died or gone to a nursing home, I thought. But
as I approached the cabin I heard a window air conditioner
running... and I remembered that the place had always looked
unoccupied on approach from that direction.

I knocked on the door and she opened it. She had one hand on
the shotgun leading against the door facing on the inside and
did not recognize me. I had to repeat my name several times, as
she told me she didn't remember me. Then I told her, "I'm the
one who put this handrail here for you."

All of a sudden her whole demeanor changed.

"Where the hell you been all these years, you rascal?"

Then we started catching up on all that has happened since my
last visit. She showed me her tiller (the red thing I had seen
through the weeds and stuff) and walked me down a narrow
winding trail to where she had tilled four rows (so far) and
has planted tomatoes, only, so far. Then she showed me a
five gallon bucket of red potatoes she had cut up and had
ready to plant tomorrow.

Then she told me her son died, almost four years ago. Throat
cancer. She told me the reason her gardens and yard are so
overgrown is because... in her words... "I was so shocked I'm
jist now gittin' my life back."

For the first time ever, I asked her her age. She's not as old
as I had thought. She'll only turn eighty her next birthday.

Somebody sent out "a lady from a old folks helper office,
or somethin' like that," she said, and now they send out a man
to take me for groceries and things.

We talked and talked about her garden plans and such, and
finally I got around to asking her about the TOMatoes.

She laughed and said, "I hate to tell you about them thangs."

"Everbody had 'em back when I wuz growin' up. They come
up around the septic lines, and folks didn' say much about
that part. They wuz from the tomatoes people eat, and the
seeds went out there behind the house and come up. Some
folks wouldn' talk about that part, but they eat 'em anyhow.
Durin' th' depression people wusn't fussy about nuthin'. They'uz
happy to git a possum then, or a rabbit, an' cook it head an' all.
My momma told me that; and I kinda remember it little my
own self, too."

She laughed and laughed and so did I, and then she told me
how to get the seeds I want.

"Just go to the groc'ry and git some tomatoes and, if they
ain't hybrids, wait in the fall 'til after first frost, and then jis'
prepare a place with some mulch and all, and put the whole
tomatoe in the ground. Ask fer 'em and the store'll jis give
ya' the rotten ones. Then you take those and bury 'em whole,
and cover 'em with maybe an inch of dirt.And, in the spring
they'll come up TOMatoes, and they won't look fancy like
the ones they come from. They go back to the wild. And
after a couple of years they won't be much bigger'n blue
berries."

"I just sent off and paid for some "currants" that were
advertised as "wild tomatoes," I told her, and she laughed
and laughed.

"People don't know nuthin' now days, " she chuckled.

There was a lot more catching up done, but I won't go into
any more of it for now. I told her we had to get back to
Shreveport before sundown; but told her I'm coming back
up to work at the fishing camp all next week and will come
back to see her and ask her to teach me about gardening the
way people used to do it.

She said, "Well, you shore got a lot to learn, but come on
back and I'll do my best."

I asked if I there is anything I could bring her from town.

"Heck no," she said, "I got everything I can think of, already,
and so much more I don't know where to put it; so don't
bring me nuthin'; jist come back an' I'll try to teach you
somepm'.

Some of you expressed interest in her, so this message got
long in a hurry. I hope I'm not telling you more than you
want to know.

g

"g" wrote in message
nk.net...
A garden in north Louisiana, USA.

BACKGROUND OF QUESTION:
Am recalling tomatoes raised by
father when I was a child. He
planted several varieties, all very
acidic (which is what I prefer).

I recall that one variety would
come up year after year without
being replanted. Dad called
them TOM-a-toes (the caps for
stressed syllable) and, sometimes,
"wild tomatoes." They would
come up along the edges of
the garden each year from fruit
that had fallen on the ground the
prior year and were more hardy,
more drought resistant, more
parasite resistant and more disease
resistant than any other variety --
and produced all summer long,
while other varieties produced
early, or late, or lost their blooms
prematurely in high temperatures.

The only disadvantage of the
TOMatoes, so far as I can recall,
was their small for use in a
sandwich. For salads, they were
perfect. Some would ripen when
not much larger than a marble.
They were acidic and rich in taste
and seemed to have a long shelf
life, as best I recall.

In recent years no tomatoes I have
purchased as supermarket produce,
nor that I have grown from plant
sets purchased at a supermarket or
at a seed and feed store, have been
acidic enough for my taste (despite
the fact I have ASKED for the
most acidic varieties available.
Last year, HOWEVER, a neighbor
raised some TOMatoes,
and gave some to me, and they were
like the ones I remembered from
childhood. Afterward that neighbor
took a job in another city and we
have lost contact.

QUESTIONS:

1. Are all TOMatoes the same?
2. Are they really capable of
growing in the wild?
3. Can you tell me where I might
get some seeds to get some
started in my garden, with a
reasonable expectation they
will come up yearly if I prepare
a special bed for them?

Any information or advice will
be appreciated.

g