It hasn't been easy. The Northeast is in the grip of a brutal drought. Tomatoes are unhappy. Some people are praying harder for rain than for salvation.
Tomatoes define gardening success.
Those who grow them well, year after year, suddenly lose the gift of speech if asked how they do it. The rest of us scratch and scramble. Some years we hit it big, some years we get blossom end rot. The politics and protocols of tomato growing are not simple. Forget the dabblers with three tomato plants among the dahlias or with a tub of them on the patio.