Woo! We have lift-off! The Tumbling Tom is looking healthy (thus far) and is sporting a stylish little flower.

Tom is the only tomato planted in a 2-gallon (ish) bucket and hangs from the deck railing. The rest are ensconced in containers that are 5-gallons or larger.

This cherry tomato is supposedly perfect for container environments as it “weeps” — that is it drapes artistically over the sides of its sunny, east-facing South Philadelphia home. We’ll just have to make sure we eat all the fruits before they drop on the roof of our neighborhood  garage.

Looks like our wicked hot Thai bird chili is ready to go, too.  I started this from seed back in February. This sucker is awfully prolific and we tend to toss them right into the jar of prik nam pla (Thai chili/fish sauce) we have perpetually stewing in the fridge.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler and it keeps forever: finely chop 1/2 c. bird chilies (any super hot tiny chili will do) + 1 c. fish sauce. Remember to wear rubber gloves while chopping the chilies. Combine the chilies and the fish sauce in a jar, shake. Refrigerate. Refresh ingredients as necessary. Spice stuff up. That’s it. Many thanks to Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid of Hot Sour Salty Sweet fame.