Cooking Out Of The Box

Last year I gave into my undeniable impulse on an airplane.  I know most of you are wondering what this has to do with this blog, centered around cooking with fresh, seasonal produce.  I would be too.  But, as I explained last year, I was thumbing through an inflight catalogue on my way to places unremembered, and I came across the perfect solution to my tomato planting problems, the upside down tomato planter!

Ah yes, how people laughed and pointed.  And how envious they were when we ate our first BLT of the season on July 1st.

Our upside down tomato plants were an undeniable success.  But imagine my surprise when this blog began to get hundreds of visitors, attracted by entering the keywords “upside down tomato plants” into Google.  Entertainingly enough, it turns out that this is now the trendy way to plant tomatoes, and even more amusing, it appears that I am the only person on the internet who actually was brave enough to blog that she did it.

Since that time, I’ve seen commercials on television promoting something called the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter.  I suspect that this new product will work, and it is, on the surface, considerably cheaper than what I bought.  But, my planter is rock-solid and sturdy, it stands up on its own, and it has an area on top to plant other plants too.

My father, always looking for ways to beat the system, decided that all you really need to do if you want to plant tomatoes in this manner is to get some old buckets, cut holes in the bottom, and hang them from ropes.  He’s right too.

This year I planted a variety of herbs on the top of the planter.  I also planted four pepper plants.  The pepper plants were purchased from a stand at the Dane County Farmers’ Market.  I chose miniature bell peppers, Sweet Italian peppers, and a hungarian style pepper. 

I decided to take a gamble with the tomatoes that were planted this year.  Most years we go with relatively safe, proven tomato plants from our favorite vendor at the market.  Buying their Early Girls ensures that we will get that coveted first tomato by the first weekend of July.  But this year, I went all Heirloom, choosing the following plants to try out:

• Stupice:  These Czechoslavakian tomatoes are early, cold resistant tomatoes that grow fruit approximately 2 inches in diameter.
• Matina:  These heirlooms from Germany are also very hardy and early.  They are medium-sized plants, and they are known to have great flavor.
• Black Cherry:  I can’t wait to try these tomatoes.  They are a classic cherry tomato, but have black skin, and the flavor of other black heirlooms.
• Sungold:  I love Sungold tomatoes.  They are also a cherry tomato, with a golden apricot color and deep, sweet flavor.

 And the Shiba Inus, as usual, were out and about as we planted.  Toshiro really didn’t care what we were doing, but Jimbo thought it might be possible that we were planting food for him.  Because, ever the optimist, he’s sure that everything that we do involves food for him.

PS:  This post was written outside, on the back deck, taking full advantage of the spring weather.

I am a frequent flyer.

That might be an odd opening statement for a blog centered around seasonal cooking and related topics, but bear with me here… it really is pertintent!

Like all the other frequent flyers on Northwest, we are held captive for hours on end, staring at the back of the seat in front of us.  Cleverly, Northwest has found a way to capitalize further on your boredom.  They provide a Skymall Magazine in the seat pocket in front of you.

So, as a frequent flyer, you get on plane after plane and inevitably boredom drives you to resort to thumbing through this magazine.  And voila - you get sucked in.  You find things you never even knew you needed, only to discover that you need them desperately!  And try as you might to control the urge to spend, eventually you give in and do it.

This is how I came to own my upside down tomato planter.  It’s an amazing thing.  You fill the base with water to weigh it down, you stick tomato plants through holes in the top, you fill the top with dirt, and then you plant your herb garden on top of that. 

Well, I think it is amazing anyway.  Greg is dubious.  He’s wondered aloud if a Ronco Bass-O-Matic is going to turn up on our doorstep next.  He seems to be missing the sense of adventure needed to view this with enthusiasm.

Jimbo looked on in confusion as we forced tomato plants through holes.  This isn’t unusual.  Jimbo tends to be perpetually confused.  Toshi didn’t seem to really care what we were doing.  This isn’t unusual either.

My family joined us for dinner the day after we got this out on our back deck.  They rolled around the yard laughing and pointing.

But come August, when I have beautiful tomatoes hanging upside down in my backyard, I know that I will have the last laugh.