Gardening phenomenon

A tomato plant came up in a flower bed where I had not planted any tomatoes this year. It spread out about six feet and began to produce a delicious tomato slightly smaller than a golf ball. This was in early spring, and it provided tomatoes all spring and summer. It was still producing until the recent light freeze.

I estimate that I gathered more than 100 tomatoes from this "volunteer" plant.

I was invited to my good neighbors' home, the Ault family, for Thanksgiving dinner. On the table was a large container of small tomatoes the same size as mine. Ronnie Ault said the tomatoes came from a volunteer vine about six feet across which she had not planted. Ronnie estimated that she had gathered more than 200 tomatoes from this vine.

Our vines are about a half-mile apart. We have not heard of this phenomenon before.

Wayne Brown

Lometa