Cherry Tomato Plants in the Sala

🪴 The Joy of Indoor Gardening

Having plants indoors, especially fruiting ones like tomatoes, offers so many benefits:

• Aesthetic Appeal: The vibrant green leaves and bright pops of red/yellow fruit are naturally beautiful.
• Air Quality: They help purify the air.
• Inspiration and Calm: Nurturing something living can be very grounding and inspirational.
• Fresh Snacks: Nothing beats plucking a fresh, ripe tomato right there!

🍅 Inspiring Poems About Tomatoes

1. “Cherry Tomatoes” by Anne Higgins

This poem perfectly captures the small, bursting joy of the fruit, which may connect beautifully with the little jewels in your sala:

Suddenly it is August again, so hot, breathless heat. I sit on the ground in the garden of Carmel, picking ripe cherry tomatoes and eating them. They are so ripe that the skin is split, so warm and sweet from the attentions of the sun, the juice bursts in my mouth, an ecstatic taste, and I feel that I am in the mouth of summer, sloshing in the saliva of August. Hummingbirds halo me there, in the great green silence, and my own bursting heart splits me with life.

2. “Ode to the Tomato” by Pablo Neruda

Neruda’s poem is one of the most famous literary celebrations of the tomato, treating it with a majestic, yet humble, reverence. It’s an “Elemental Ode” that speaks to the tomato’s light and color.

The street filled with tomatoes, midday, summer, light is halved like a tomato, its juice runs through the streets.

It sheds its own light, benign majesty.

(Note: The full poem goes on to describe the joy of preparing and eating the tomato.)

3. “tomatoes” by Joy Sullivan

This modern poem beautifully links the simple joy of eating a fresh tomato with the feeling of being truly alive:

I waited so long for love and suddenly, here it is. standing in the garden, hands full of heirlooms hot from the sun.

Soon we’ll make a supper of them. Salted slabs between slices of bread. Your beard silvers. My hips ripen. The mail piles up. Phone calls go unanswered. Forgive us. Our mouths are full of tomatoes. We are so busy. being small and hungry and alive.

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🎵 Tomato Songs

While popular songs about tomatoes are less common than poems, the most famous musical tribute is:

• “Homegrown Tomatoes” by Guy Clark: A classic folk/country song that celebrates the incomparable taste and satisfaction of growing your own tomatoes, which seems perfect for your unique indoor crop!

I hope these poems and the song give you a little more inspiration to enjoy your special cherry tomato plants! Would you be interested in any tips for getting a good harvest from your indoor plants?