The first part of June, I was storting through my seeds deciding what to plant and putting them into piles by dates, (one for first part of June, middle of June and end of June).
I happened to find this plastic bag in with the seeds, and I thought, "Mmm, what could this be. I don't remember putting this here, and it's looks really old."
I opened it up and found 2 newspaper clipping from January 1996, and I recongnized my Aunt Mae's handwriting on them. I sat down and read them. They were about different type of very large producing red and yellow tomatoes, their origins, and so forth. She and I always had gardening in our blood, and we would sit and talk about it for hours. I learned so much about it from her and my Uncle Minter. They grew large garden every year, and would can hundreds of quart jars of produce to fill their cellar shelves. Many a times I would visit and come home with my little car loaded down with enough boxes of canned food to last me until the next visit. I would returned with her empty jars, and she would have another box ready for me to take back. I think in her heart, they knew that was what sustained Mike and I during my college years, (when my income was very limited). I also noticed to small folded pieced of paper along with the articles.?..
One was marked "Big Red Tomatoes" and the other "Big Yellow Tomatoes". I opened them and inside were the seeds. I chuckled at first, and them thought, "I've planted seeds that were 5 and 6 years old, and they grew. Let's give these a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained". I looked up to the heavens, and said, "It's in your hands now Aunt Mae. You and the good Lord". It's late in the season, but let's give it a try. So I planted 6 red and 6 yellow. A dozen and it still left me a few seeds.
I put 1 seed in each pot of starting mix, watered them, covered them with plastic wrap and set them in the south kitchen window. I watched over them like a mother hen. After about 2 weeksm they actually sprouted!! I removed the plastic wrap, keep watering them, kept them in the window, moving them around, (so each of a share of the sunlight). And they kept growing. They were my little babies. I called them Aunt Mae's tomatoes. I had the outside of the pots marked R or Y, so I knew which were red or yellow.
After a couple more weeks, when they had their true leaves and were really looking like true tomatoes, and the outside temps were in the very low 70's, I took them outside to start harding them off.
Dumb me. It got a little to windy and I lost all my yellow tomatoes and only my red tomatoes survived, (they were protected my a large planter of basil that was sitting in front of it). So for a whole week I fussed and babied my red starts, and kept looking up and saying, "help my Aunt Mae. They got to make into the ground".
Finally in July I had enough root system and the leafs looked nice and full and green. I planted the 6 little guys, gave them some fertilizer and a good drink of water. I looked heavenly and said, "I've done all I know how".
Once a week, I would feed them my special "banana water', so they would get potassium. Man did it help them bloom. They loved the hot weather we had this year, being in the good earth, and getting regular waterings.
Unfortunately the middle of August I lost 2 plants to curly leaf, and 1 go a fungus. But I still had 3 left. Many gardeners in our area were losing whole gardens to the fungs and pests. The rest of my garden suffered just a few plant losses, but nothing major, (only 1 or 2 but bed).
Finally the middle of August I had green tomatoes!!! And they were good sized ones. I looked to the heavens and said, "Thanks Aunt Mae". I told Dave, "Come look at Aunt Mae's tomatoes". We had quite a few tomatoes and loads of bloom. Dave said, "How old were those seeds?" I said 26 years. He shook his head.
10 days later I took a photo to show the size. You can see by the light change in color, it is getting ready to ripen. I was almost afraid to touch it, for fear it would fall off the branch. You can see that there are others hanging on the branch close by.
Finally, September 6th, I couldn't wait any longer, so I picked one of the ripe tomatoes. You can see, it's fairly large. I left it on the counter for a couple days to continue ripening. Everyday, Dave would ask, "Can we cut it now?" Finally, we cut it up, and it was delicious. All the tomatoes from the 3 plants were large, meaty, heavy, and so sweet. I would pick up a slice of tomato, look upwards and say, "Thank you Aunt Mae".
I did save tomato seeds from 2 different tomatoes, (just to be on the save side), for future planting.
From seed to ripe tomato in about 3 months - from 26 years old seeds. Moral: Take good care of your seeds, and they will produce.
Side note: My Aunt Mae passed away in 2015, at the age of 91, just 4 months shy of her 92nd birthday. She was sharp as a tack until the end, quick wit, and didn't hold her tongue when she thought you needed put in your place. And, I still miss her today. I carry much of what she taught me through life. She was very much my second mother.
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