Plants - T

	In 1946 in England, in the London area , at least, everyone had a great outdoor tomato harvest. My Aunt bottled hers as per usual, mainly for use on toast for breakfasts (despite the rationing cooked breakfasts were still in vogue) and stored them in the larder under the stairs The winter of 1946 was one of the hardest anyone remembered. One night we were woken by loud explosions as if the war had returned. Every single jar had exploded after the tomatoes had frozen solid and expanded. Bottling fell out of vogue in most households in London after that winter, and I tend to grow my tomatoes in the greenhouse. After trying out many varieties my favourites are still "Gardener's Delight" and "Sungold"
	The flowers of the blowsy red tulips with their contrasting black centre bands that accompany later daffodils are taller, larger versions of the ground hugging ones that grew on Mt Carmel when I was young. Since the early species tulips do not flourish here in my garden in the English Midlands I grow the larger version for nostalgic reasons. The more uright red cup shaped tulips give colour between the daffodils and the herbaceous perennials while more elegant , lily shaped tulips look good forcing their way up through forget-me-nots in May. .