Gutter Veg

At the end of our street, a tomato plant is growing in the gutter.  It’s been growing there quite awhile. That’s a good thing; no one has disturbed it. No one noticed it until about nine days ago, when green tomatoes became evident.

Word on the street spread fast. Everyone paraded down to see it, but no one touched it.

No one has watered it, either. That’s not necessary as long as there’s rain. It is growing at the very end of a tilt in the road and catches any rain that runs down the gutter.

At first I thought it was producing cocktail tomatoes, but one green tomato now exceeds that limit.  This gutter plant has even begun to sprawl. I don’t know what we’ll do if it needs staking. Maybe a long wire stake would work. The crack between the cement curb and the blacktop provides enough soil to nurture this plant, so surely a narrow stake will work. A tomato cage will not.

I was in my 20s before I heard the adage, “Bloom where you’re planted.” This tomato plant is the poster veggie for that.