I put raised beds in my backyard this year and for the first time in a few years I was able to grow a few veggies at home. Life got busy and I definitely was not able to tend to things as I know I really ought to - honestly most years that’s how it goes with my gardening. Thank goodness nature is so resilient and persists despite my neglect. And also thank goodness I am not actually dependent on my garden for substinence, because clearly I’d do a poor job of keeping my family fed.

In any case my August garden was a horrendous mess and I kind of just walked away from it after the mid-August glut of zucchini and tomatoes started to wane. And when the early September green tomatoes were sticking around a little too long, I didn’t bother trying to fry them up or whatever, I just left them on the vine. Even with some near-frost temperatures, they’ve been slowly ripening out there.

And to my amazement when I went out to gather the few little slicers and cherry tomatoes still hanging around, they weren’t suffering from the blossom-end rot many of their predecessors were.

In fact, these modest few fruits were some of the best tomatoes I’d grown all year and I had completely - and I do mean COMPLETELY - neglected to tend them.

A modest late-September harvest

This is definitely not a metaphor whatsoever, nope nope nope!

Actual likely explanation: My tomatoes were probably overcrowded and them naturally thinning out meant less competition for calcium, which is why these lil’ beefsteak tomatoes didn’t have the blossom-end rot.

Shoutout to the neighborhood chipmunks for leaving these ones alone so I could actually eat them, nice of y’all to make that sacrifice for me. Appreciate it!

Also look at that fabulous purslane! I waited a bit too long to harvest it for eating, but those seed pods were chock full. I’ll be sure to have even more on hand next year - it makes my favorite horta by far, as long as I remember to cut some before it goes to seed.