We sometimes report on the green-thumb setbacks of Stacey Mulick, our newsroom crime diva girl. Today? She reports success. We applaud her gynormous tomatoes (Don't get me started on how fugly mine are. Yellow, small, and... pathetic).

Tomato news from Stacey:

It’s not been the best of summers for tomatoes, especially with last week’s more fall-like clouds and temperatures.

But I must say, my two tomato plants are growing wildly. We planted two varieties of grape tomatoes that we bought in May at the Puyallup Farmers Market.

The tag on one said it was for smaller spaces. The other one has completely outgrown the spiral wire support that initially helped provide some stability. Now, I’ve got branches going along the grass line and into the other tomato plant. It’s crazy but promising. (I’m glad I talked my husband out of trying three tomato starts. We would not have had the room.)

The only thing I did differently with my tomatoes this year is fertilize them once in July, I believe, with a tomato fertilizer.

Up until now, though, we’ve only had a handful of ripened tomatoes to pluck off. And they were pretty teeny at that.

I’ve got several dozen green tomatoes ripening on the vines right now and more yellow flowers still blooming. I only hope enough sunshine will bless the South Sound for the remainder of the summer to get a bountiful crop before the weather turns for good.

Here, a photo, see for yourself.