Last March, with the help of grandpa, we replanted cherry-tomato seedlings that had started growing all by themselves in a container on the terrace. One particular one grew amazingly tall and strong. Just as the first tomatoes started to ripen its leaves were stripped by two different kinds of caterpillars that I hand-picked away (some fifty of them). Even though it is now quite bold, cherry tomatoes have been a "winter" delicacy much appreciated by Leila and to an even larger extent Coline, who strictly only eats tomatoes from the terrace. It has become a daily routine for Coline to climb up to the terrace on the roof and check how many tomatoes "turned red". This generally amounts to a maximum of six per day, and so we call it a treat. It is very strange to me that tomatoes be harvested in the cooler months of the year, but they are also the driest. Since the caterpillar attack the plants now look fairly unhealthy with very little leaves, some of which are half eaten and brown, but it does not seem to stop producing fruits. I have no idea how to improve its condition and just regularly feed it earthworm compost which makes me even more grateful for the joy and pleasure at picking and eating these sweet winter treats. I cannot wait to move to our house with a piece of garden to plant more of these and much more.
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