TOMATOES, TOMATOES, TOMATOES

TOMATOES FOR THE MASSES!

I don’t know how many of the masses we will be able to feed with the fruit of our labor, hopefully there will be enough of a harvest prior to the end of the semester for us to feed the class Italian Heirloom and Black Krim tomatoes from the expected bounty.

As you can probably tell from the first line of this first blog entry I am going to do a Lived Experience for my class research project. I have decided to see if it is possible to grow my own tomatoes indoors and do it in an organic manner and in the long run save money over the prices that are charged in the grocery stores for produce.

I will be joined by a good friend of mine and advised by two of my neighbors on this project. My friend has grown plants indoors before and already had on hand the necessary organic fertilizers and the grow lights that are required so those expenses will not be an initial cost of the project but I will have to take into account the wear and tear on the lights and cost out the amount of fertilizer actually used.

As of today I have spent approximately thirty dollars on planting trays, soil, seeds, and miscellaneous items needed to start the growing. I will have a further breakdown of costs in following blog entries. Hopefully this will be an endeavour that not only provides great tomatoes but does it at a price that beats the market price when we harvest.

The literature that I have tells me that I will be able to harvest tomatoes around seventy days after transplanting the plants from the seedling trays to their pots. Since we are growing tomatoes I thought that a good compliment to them would be some herbs to accompany them at harvest time. We decided to grow some Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme at the same time in the indoor grow area. With any luck we will feast on all of these items with some fresh mozzarella cheese, olive oil, and fresh baked bread prior to the end of our class!

MY MISSION STATEMENT: Grow organic tomatoes at a better price than that available in the local area stores.

My specific goals for this project are;

<!–[if !supportLists]–>1. <!–[endif]–>Grow indoor tomatoes and not kill them in the process.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>2. <!–[endif]–>See if it is possible to grow my own produce so as to make a smaller footprint on the ecology.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>3. <!–[endif]–>Find out if I have the ability to do on my own what I have always taken for granted, that these types of produce are always available, so why worry.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>4. <!–[endif]–>Find a guinea pig to try out the fruits of my labor to ensure it is edible for me!

Pictures to follow so you can keep up with the progress of tomatoes in action…