I'm gonna chow down my vegetables

An old friend once told me a tomato plucked fresh from the garden tastes like sunshine. I finally know exactly what he meant.

This is the summer of my vegetable garden. I have lived, well, never mind how many years, but long enough that it's a sin I never had a vegetable garden before. Oh, we've had the random tomato plant, and a handful of strawberry bushes, but this year I laid out a row of radishes, and peas, and green beans, and carrots. And of course I wanted tomatoes. Sweetie got me one tomato plant and two or three cherry tomato plants.

The radishes were an early triumph - they're ready for harvest in about a month. Also an early learning experience - it really does make more sense to leave some space between the plants if you want them to grow. The crowded ones were pitiful, skinny little stalks, and the lonely ones were RADISHES. (I told you I never did this before!)

I really had my doubts about the cherry tomatoes. My whole experience with cherry tomatoes has been with those bland little orange things that lurk in restaurant salads - kind of like a little tomato but without the taste of a tomato.

So I greeted the first ripe cherry tomatoes with something less than enthusiasm. I accidentally plucked one - it was more ready for picking than I was - and, not having anything else to do with it, I stuck it in my mouth.

Oh - my - god. The taste of sunshine.

Cherry tomatoes have gone from not-on-my-radar to pretty much my favorite vegetable, errr, fruit. Not those red bits of cardboard you get with your salad, mind you - my cherry tomatoes, the ones that grew because I put the plants in the ground and watered 'em a little.

Next summer's vegetable garden will be bigger, and more carefully tended. But this first one will always be special. I made food with my own little hands! I ate delicious radishes, I made about 45,000 green beans, and I discovered cherry tomatoes. The peas and carrots, well, nobody's perfect, and next year I'll follow the directions. But those cherry tomatoes ... !