Wilson the tomato plant perseveres

By Di on May 2 2023
Topical
Ripe tomatoes on a tomato plant

When I was a kid, my father had a huge vegetable garden. He taught me how to plant and grow vegetables from seed to harvest. One year I decided to grow a tomato plant. I named it Wilson after a song I liked by Livingston Taylor.

Well, Wilson had a couple of serious accidents along the way. First, his pot fell off the shelf when he was a seedling and he crashed onto the floor. But I picked him up and put him in another pot, and he survived. Then our horses got loose in the garden, and one of them stepped on Wilson and squashed him flat! All that was left was a little stem. My dad was sure that was the end of the story. But I put stem-Wilson in a pot and he quickly grew back and returned to the garden. At the end of the summer, he gave us lots of big, healthy tomatoes.

Decades later, I still think of Wilson when I’m feeling discouraged. He went through a lot but I never gave up on him, and he ended up being very productive. So—never give up. With perseverance, you can have a great harvest.
 

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Discussion
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What did your father or mother teach you to do when you were young?
When in your life have you had to overcome obstacles to succeed at something?
Recent scientific experiments seem to show that plants have a kind of consciousness, intelligence, and memory. What do you think about that?