All summer I've been wondering why I bother as I moved spindly tomato plants in pots around the living room. Some of them began the summer on the deck, but it soon became obvious that they needed some warmth if they were going to do anything. With a remodel project also happening in the living room, they often seemed more trouble than they were worth for anticipated weak returns.I'm not sure how it started -- before I knew it I had 8 potted tomato plants vying for space in the living room with the house plants and the basil I grow there every summer. On the one warm day we had in July, I took them all outside in the hopes that a passing bee would fertilize them and produce some fruit. Then when the cool temperatures returned, in they came and I shook them often in hopes they'd self-fertilize. By the first of August, half hadn't set any fruit and they moved to the compost pile. By the end of August, I began to wonder if any of the fruit was going to ripen with all the clouds.
This week my limited patience paid off and I think the living room will be full of potted tomatoes again next year. These three kinds of cherry tomatoes - in red, orange, and yellow - are the best I've tasted in years. Even the vine-ripened tomatoes that I've been buying from a local greenhouse all summer can't compare.
These tasty little spheres are one of the few hints that it's been summer in Alaska.
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