In order to flower and form fruit, a tomato plant requires evening temperatures of at least 70 degrees or cooler.

In South Texas, that means we can plant tomatoes in February and reap the bounty until the middle of June. Then, they are done for the summer.

If the plants survive the scorching heat and night time temps of 80+ degrees, then they will begin bearing fruit again in September.

With the drought of the summer, none of the tomato plants survived; however, when we finally began getting a bit of rain in late September, the husband noticed little tomato plants had sprung up all over the yard. While he mowed over most of them, he collected the largest ones and transplanted them into the little square foot garden.

The Golden Retriever Skeet is a fan of nice ripe tomatoes and eats them with abandon; however, with the firm green ones, he prefers to pluck them and play with them before discarding them around the yard. He prefers them fried, I suppose. The thought is that Skeet’s green tomatoes seeded the yard.

Depending on Jack Frost, we may have some fresh tomatoes before long.

In the meantime, I shall continue to enjoy my roses and their friends.