My one-year-old just pulled up my tomato plants.

Set loose in the backyard by himself for five minutes while we cleaned out the car. Dh went to check on him, came back and said, "I think he may have pulled up some of your coffee cups."

Went running to the backyard and, sure enough, coffee-cup barriers strewn across the yard.

Of the plants that were still looking pretty good and like they were going to pull through, he pulled up two thirds. Meaning that I am left with only one fifth of the plants I originally put out.

I had originally planned fifteen plants. Narrowed it down to ten for a variety of reasons, including the poor rate of survival of my seedlings. Of those ten (which were the survivors of about thirty seeds originally planted), only two are left.

The four healthy plants that Eli pulled up, I put back in the ground and watered. Of course, since it happened at dusk, it means they've just been watered right before nightfall, and while recovering from a bout with rot.

I did try to keep the water from getting directly on the leaves. But the other thing is, that most of them were separated from the bulk of their roots. I re-planted them as deeply as I dared, but they only have two sets of true leaves, so I couldn't plant them very deeply. The one plant of all my tomatoes that was looking the best--green and stocky and firm--was among the worst damaged.

About halfway through rescue efforts, I just sat down and cried.

Then I finished the operation.

Looks like I'll be planting out my back-up crop in the next couple weeks. I guess I should start another set of tomatoes, just in case the back-up crop gets wasted too.

And as soon as I possibly can, I'll be headed to Lowe's for remesh. Cages--to support tomatoes and keep toddlers out.

Whimper.

Hi Heather,

I'm so sad to hear about your tomatoes story.
I'm new to gardening and planted quite a lot yesterday, expecting everything to grow.
Now, I'm wondering if I should think about backup plans if something happens to my plants !

It's not that easy to be a gardener !!

Amelia

Thanks for the sympathy. I have a back-up crop only because I had so much trouble with my seedlings early on, that I began to think I was not going to have enough, and started a new set. Then they seemed to pull through, and I thought the back-up crop would be unnecessary. But things do happen.

It's not always this hard. I had great luck with tomatoes for several years in pots on apartment balconies, and a lot of other things are doing just fine--strawberries and lettuce, and cilantro, and, of course, mint, which you can't really mess up. Corn and beans and squash are doing fine too.

It happens that this year I invested a lot of energy into my tomatoes because I love them and because Shelley had shared a bunch of heirloomers with me and I can't wait to sink my teeth into my first green zebra, or pruder's purple, or whatever I happen to still have left out there. And I was wanting to try my hand at saving seed (may not happen because due to lots of mishaps, I am not able to isolate varieties enough for true seed--this year). But I was hoping at least to try a few varieties, so I'll know what to plant and save seed from next year.

Anyway, thanks again for your sympathy. Things always happen for a reason, and I figure I'm either not supposed to have heirloom tomatoes this year, or I'm supposed to grow only the absolute most hardy and indestructible specimens so the next generation will be tough, or maybe I'm supposed to be learning some deeper lesson, like putting my children above my plants and learning to go with the flow and not let little set-backs get me down. Of course, I'm in no mood to be contemplating deeper meanings at the moment, but if I were to do so, I'd probably end up feeling a lot better about the whole thing and maybe become a better person for it...

So maybe I'd better go meditate or something. Grrr. LOL

Thanks for the kind thoughts,

Heather

I planted only 9 tomatoes and all was doing fine untill last night something came along and cut off one of them :O X-( Needless to say, I was peeved and its way too late to start 'Pineapple' again. I am just glad they didnt hit 'Bloody Butcher' as I have not been able to find another source for that one and I've only a few seeds of that left, one I am definatly saving seeds from this year! Heather, perhaps you could root the broken ones in water? I know tomatoes root very easily tht way, then replant them when they have a lot more roots.

I would just put them all back in the dirt and hope alot-- i have had them recover from getting snapped off the root system completely. tomatoes are tough!

good luck--and just think in 3 or 4 years you can put the baby to work weeding and planting stuff. kids are so close to the ground, it's easier on them! (my youngest is my only gardener--but she put in most of my onion crop the last couple of years!)

Maybe it's a good sign that he's interested in gardening! It's certainly a wonderful hobby for him in the future! He maybe become a chef! And as soon as you insist that he help with the weeding, he will definitely not go near your veggies!!

It surely can be frustrating, and by the end of this summer you will have graduated from the School of Hard Knocks!

That must have been so frustrating! But there's a lesson here, not to leave a 1 year old toddler alone and out of sight for even one minute. Something much worse could have happened---to the baby. And believe me, I understand how difficult it is.

Oh what a bummer.

As Locke pointed out in Club OG - isn't gardening supposed to be a [u]relaxing[/u] hobby? Whomever said that ought to have their head examined.
I have more seeds, heather, and can send them along if you need back-ups for your back-ups.
Having never been in a zone where I could plant tomatoes directly outside, I've been interested and learning from your woes.
My main problem this year is going to be the puppy, who in one minute ate my entire pea plantings. I've barricaded the lettuce.
To be a gardener is to believe in the power of Hope. Keep the faith, heather!

So far all my stuff is still in pots but I share my yard with 2 dogs. I am worried. MY backup plan is to buy seedlings from Home Depot. It's not the greatest plan but it works. I do feel your pain. When I was a kid I started a flower garden but everything died, except one sunflower. Well my landlord came to mow the lawn and his son ripped it up. I was able to recover the plant and it grew quite well even after all that. You never know which plants will manage.

When I lived in Illinois, I had a nice patch of daffodill growing on a hillside. After all the blooms died back, I put in some bright yellow plastic ones until all the leaves died back. My nephew came to mow my grass & mowed down all my lovely plastic flowers.

Oh, no!! That's so sad! I had several get chopped off by children and birds this spring, too. Glad it wasn't bloody butcher. What *is* bloody butcher??

I think the plants I stuck back in the ground are actually doing okay today. I'm feeling a lot better about it.

Thanks!

Heather

Yeah, I stuck them all back in the ground with as much root as they had, and buried them as deeply as I could to allow for adventitious roots, and they seem to be doing fine today.

Here's hoping they continue to recover.

My four-year-old already helps me quite a bit. He used to pull up my peas--argh! LOL And now he helps me with watering, and, his favorite, trucking earthworms back to the "worm house" (an outdoor vermicompost bin of sorts) in his dump truck. He also likes to help dig and pull weeds. I imagine the one-year-old will be a big help in a couple years too. Meanwhile--cages around the tomatoes from now on.

Thanks for the thoughts,

Heather

Thanks, sweetpea. I try to remind myself that it is people before things--even if those things are intended to feed us eventually! LOL

I do hope he will continue to be interested in gardening. He definitely is interested in bugs! He'll pick anything up--the other day, we found a locust squirming around in his case, not yet hatched out. Those things are big, and UG-LY! He wanted to hold it and cried because I wouldn't let him! I felt like a bad mom for not letting him, but I just couldn't bear it.

I *do* let him handle earthworms, lady beetles, grubs (ew!), and whatever else comes our way and isn't dangerous. He is surprisingly gentle, though he has smooshed a slug on occasion--but only rarely.

My four-year-old is less adventurous with the bugs, but he is interested in everything. Just today, we took half an hour without the baby (we left the one-year-old with our part-time "nanny") and went to the neighborhood pond, and got to watch a snake catch and eat a fish. It was pretty amazing. I've never seen anything like it before, except in nature films.

Anyway, I love having them in the yard with me and it is more good than bad. Just every once in a while very frustrating.

Thanks again,

Heather

Thanks, Doverduo. I appreciate the sympathy. It looks like the tomatoes are doing okay today, though, so here's hoping!