Livin' It Up... Growing Cherry Tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes are a staple that end up in my cart every grocery trip. Their smaller size makes them perfect for snacking and adding them into every dish I can.

Tomatoes provide an abundant amount of vitamins and minerals. One cup of cherry tomatoes will provide 25% of daily recommend Vitamin A, 32% Vitamin C, and a substantial amount of Vitamin K and potassium. Tomatoes are an excellent source of lycopene, which is a powerful antioxidant that has been linked to a reduced risk of cancers.

Cherry tomatoes need to be planted where they will get full sun exposure, in well drained soil, and maintain a moderate moisture content. They can even be grown in large containers. 

I woke up early Sunday morning and had my usual cup of coffee before going to the doctor to finally get my chest congestion addressed. I had a terrible cold at the beginning of May and have not been able to shake my cough which was unproductive and started to sound like a wheeze. Sure enough it's bronchitis so I was prescribed a z-pack and told to take over the counter cough medicine. 

After the doctor appointment I got my car washed and headed home to pick up the truck and head to the downtown Houston Galleria area to pick up items to try my hand at growing cherry tomatoes. I stumbled on this amazing nursery, Buchanan's Native Plants, after reading Yelp reviews about a year ago about a food truck that is normally parked out there on Sundays, Good Dog. 

After experiencing flash flooding over the last couple of weeks we finally got to enjoy a sun-kissed afternoon and made it out to the nursery. 

Picked up cherry tomato seeds, those recycled cardboard containers, soil, fertilizer, a shovel, some sort of liquid seaweed food for plants, and a watering can. 

(40-Oz to Freedom... Named after Sublime's song? Ha!)

Walking around the nursery worked up quite an appetite so we stopped at Liberty Kitchen and Oysterette for lunch. Parking is limited and without reservations you are looking at a 45 minute wait time (that was around 11am). We got seated near the bar at the "side-by-side" seating which I loved because we could watch TV and people watch which included seeing all of the servers bringing the food out. I tried their Bloody Mary (too spicy), campechana which was so delicious. My favorite part were the fried oysters on top. To end the meal we order their Cake & Pie Shakes, mine was with a slice of apple pie (oh em gee!!!). Next time I will get an order of just fried oysters, maybe be a complete fat ass and get their lobster mac and cheese, and forgo the milkshake. It was too much and I ended up wasting more than half of it. 

After lunch we stopped at a local shopping center where I picked up a pair of Old Navy's High-Rise Belted Soft Shorts (4") in Navy Floral. These shorts are so incredibly soft, light and airy, long enough to cover my big ol' butt, and hides some of my cellulite on my thighs. Also picked up a plain white tee to go with the shorts and a pair of their white rock star jeans which I will need to return because they were not flattering at all. Bummer! I was looking forward to owning my first pair of white jeans. 

Then I walked over to Ulta and picked up a new perfume, Vince Camuto's Limited Edition Fiori. Free with purchase was a 2-in-1 blanket tote which will be perfect for Summer trips to the beach. Fiori stands for "flowers" in Italian. The top notes are pink grapefruit, white nectarine, and base notes of sandalwood (fave!) and cedar wood. 

One last stop before home was to pop into Kroger to pick up some chicken for a possible dinner (if I even get hungry since I still feel full from lunch) and on a whim I picked myself up a pot of mini pink roses.  

I have never had a garden before, nor have I ever successfully kept a plant alive longer than a week. Good thing I have my mom because she has quite the green thumb and I can ask her anything about gardening. I grew up with my grandfather's garden in Utah. I was the only girl he allowed into his garden. During my Summers there I would wake up to the smell of coffee, Grandma would pour Grandpa's cup and make me my choice of hot chocolate or apple cider. I miss the sound of the whistling kettle. Then we'd sit down and have a bowl of Grape Nuts together before heading out to the garden together. The first thing we'd do every morning is step into the chicken coop and gather the eggs and race them into the house for Grandma. While I was doing that Grandpa would grab my stool  and a salt shaker and place me in front of the snap peas. I'd eat my weight in them. My grandparents were also big eating dinner in front of the table people so we'd set up our TV trays while watching the Nightly News. Once dinner was cleaned up Grandpa would take me back out to the garden with a mini basket to pick raspberries. We'd top vanilla ice cream with them and head outside to sit in the rocking chairs playing card games until bed time. Some of the best days ever!

My mom is also good with gardening, but me... that's a whole other story and think the gene may have skipped a generation. While living in Oregon my mom had an amazing garden with some standouts being corn, a blueberry bush, and my favorite were the tomato plants. Mom and I would bite the cherry tomatoes in half sucking out the insides to fill the other half with basil infused olive oil. Those tomatoes were incredible because they were warmed by the sun. 

Once home I changed into "play" clothes and finally stepped out onto the patio to get started on the planting of my "garden". I say "garden" because I don't think I can call it that since it's going to be one potted tomato plant and a small mini rose bush. #small-patio-apartment-living. Being outside and gardening was so relaxing. I planted 10 seeds in hopes that two will work out. We shall see. 

Because I was outside, getting the patio cleaned up was needed since the winds swept a lot of dirt onto the ground. My patio is also empty and I also decided it was time to find some patio furniture as well. I am in love with this Ciudad Bar Collection from Pier 1 and will be ordering this soon so I will have no reason why we're not enjoying dinners outside and getting to look at those pretty roses and watch the progression of the growing of my cherry tomatoes. I am so looking forward to the end of Spring and Summer nights!!

Speaking of Summer... where has the year gone?!! I cannot believe we are already half way through 2015 and Little Man is no longer a 1st Grader. Boo!

While cleaning up the patio a salamander was found and decided to capture it for Little Man. Researched the care before swinging over to PetCo to pick up the needed supplies for creating a habitat. Little Man has been begging for a dog or any other pet and because his newest obsession is Pokemon and his favorite is Charmander I knew keeping this little guy is what I should do. After spending about $100 an amazing home was built for Charmander. I'm hoping to keep him alive for the next 3 1/2 weeks so when buddy returns from his Dad's house I can surprise him. If it does not work out then I'll head back over and let him pick out a different reptile (no snakes!) and we can claim Charmander evolved to Charizard. 

This has been such an enjoyable day and to end it I watched Iron Man 3 and continued studying for the CLFP exam I have coming up in 20 days. Eek!

Hope you enjoyed your Sunday as well!