The Tomato Chronicles: Mrs. Griggs’ Garden Triumph

On This Day
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:

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July 8, 1912

On this day, dear readers and fellow garden enthusiasts, we find ourselves transported to the quaint town of Raymond, Nebraska, where a most remarkable tale of horticultural tenacity unfolds. Allow me to regale you with the story of Mrs. F. E. Griggs, a woman whose passion for tomatoes rivaled that of the most devoted gardener.

Picture, if you will, a garden of 135 tomato plants, lovingly tended by Mrs. Griggs' capable hands. This tale, shared with the esteemed nurseryman Henry Field for his tome The Book of a Thousand Gardens, is one of triumph over adversity, of a gardener's unbreakable spirit.

In her own words, Mrs. Griggs paints a vivid picture of her dedication:

I had worked very hard for four months, and my garden was a very nice one and I couldn't see it die, so I started in to carry water (a long distance up a 30-foot creek bank). But it did not rain until fall.

Can you imagine, dear readers, the determination required to haul water up such a formidable incline? Yet Mrs. Griggs persevered, and her reward was bountiful indeed!

...the fall rains washed the fertilizer down and they again set the largest crop I ever saw.

Our intrepid gardener was not content with mere quantity, however. No, she pursued quality with equal vigor:

I pruned my vines severely and also pinched off all tomatoes that would be gnarled or poor shape, as soon as could see them, and it paid well in the nice crop of smooth ones I got.

A lesson for us all, is it not?

The importance of judicious pruning cannot be overstated!

Mrs. Griggs' entrepreneurial spirit soon took hold. On July 8th, she began selling her surplus tomatoes, navigating the fickle market with admirable acumen. From an initial price of 3 cents per pound, she gradually increased to 10 cents, always staying just below the town's retail price.

Alas, dear readers, success often comes at a price. In her haste to meet demand, Mrs. Griggs suffered a terrible accident:

On Aug. 26th they dropped to 5c, as people were just getting a few scattered ones of their own, and up to that date I had sold $50.00 worth. They were then coming so fast that I had to go on the jump almost to dispose of them, and in my haste one foot slipped from the buggy step and I fell, breaking and badly crushing [my leg] just above the ankle.

But did this misfortune dampen her spirits? Not in the least!

So that ended my garden. Not entirely [though], for my heart was [in the garden] and the following week with this fractured limb in plaster cast, I crawled down to [the garden] and gathered [tomatoes] ... I am still unable to walk much.

What dedication! What passion! Mrs. Griggs' love for her garden transcended physical limitations, a testament to the indomitable spirit of the true gardener.

In the end, Mrs. Griggs' tomato venture yielded not only $50 in sales but also an estimated 40 bushels eaten, given away, or (regrettably) wasted. Even as frost claimed the vines, they bore "an enormous crop of ripe ones and green ones in all stages, just bushels of them."

As we tend our own gardens, let us draw inspiration from Mrs. Griggs' tale.

May we approach our horticultural pursuits with the same passion, perseverance, and entrepreneurial spirit.

And perhaps, like Mrs. Griggs, we too might dream of greater things:

I hope some day to see just what an acre of these Field's Early June tomatoes will do.

Indeed, Mrs. Griggs, indeed. May your tomato dreams live on in gardens everywhere!

Tomato Plants
Tomato Plants
Henry Field with Display Garden in the Background
Henry Field with Display Garden in the Background

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