Why would anyone BUY tomato plants?

I admit it, I have bought tomato plants. It's a ritual. The snow melts. The ground thaws. And I start having visions of a beautiful vegetable garden. Into which I loose my children to harvest our dinner. But why buy tomato plants? That is the question I ask myself every year and why I kick myself, as I think about money spent and little seedlings that are being pulled by the tens if not hundreds from my beds.

I know it all started with composting (or self seeding from a previous season). On the occasion a tomato would go bad before we would have a chance to enjoy it in a salad, it would unceremoniously end up in the compost barrel. Come spring, all that luscious sweet smelling goodness gets turned over in the gardens. Then a few weeks later we are inundated with tomato plants. It happens year after year.

This year they are growing in the peppers, corn, squash, cucumbers, and even in the tomatoes. This morning I must have pulled twenty seedlings. With each hoist wondering if what I was doing was correct. After all we eat tomatoes. Last year, I left all the plants and by the end of the summer I was pawing through viney tomatoes to harvest our beens and squash. This year, I yearn for more order in the garden. What to do?

I'm going to conduct an experiment. I've decided next year I'm not going to buy tomato plants. I'm going to till the compost into the garden soil and call it done. When the seedlings come up, I'll transplant them into nice rows and then plant the rest of the garden around them. It will be interesting to see what kind of tomatoes we get. There is always something to look forward to in gardening.