I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook Marketplace. Some of my wins include finding a free-standing boxing punching bag from a delightful woman in Lawton, Iowa, and selling pool supplies to a kind mother in Sioux City. On the flip side, I’ve waited five times for consumers who say they will meet me and then vanish like the hair on my scalp. That’s another column.

Let’s focus on the positive. For Mother’s Day 2025, I met an enterprising young woodworker named Trey who builds raised garden beds. Those happy HGTV yuppie couples always rave about growing herbs and veggies for their parties in open-concept kitchens; why not us, right?  I met Trey at his house in the country because I’m a guy who keeps his word – that should be a prerequisite to signing onto social media swapping sites. Hello, raised bed gardening! Here I come.

My lovely wife had great ideas on what to place in the soil. I struggle to grow grass, but I optimistically planned to grow tomato plants. It’s in my DNA, I told my significant other. You see, my Pops has a knack for this. I can tap into his knowledge base. No problem. I was on my way to making award-winning salsa to rival Emeril Lagasse.

This is the best part of the article. My father told me stories about how his mother (whom I know as Busha, which is Polish for “grandma”) would lovingly plant one tomato seed at a time into a mixture of soil and fertilizer. He told the story in a much more enthusiastic way. Looking back at that conversation, it makes me smile from ear to ear. I’ll tell you about it if you see me grocery shopping, ready to buy tomatoes.

It was at this point that I realized why I truly wanted to grow tomato plants in my stylish garden bed. It takes patience, knowledge, understanding, and follow-through to complete the process.  With every passing decade, I am improving at those qualities in life, but I need a jolt of inspiration from time to time. I’m lucky to have an experienced gardener who has observed this task (and life) since the 1930s, when more people could stand by their word and grow tomatoes. I blame Facebook Marketplace for the decline of these values. I mean, c’mon, you say you’re going to meet me at 3 p.m.! At least, text me that you changed your mind!

Good parents keep their kiddos away from dangerous situations – like the “weeds” in life. You need to spend quality time with the tomato plant daily, just like being involved in your child’s life. You need to provide support for your plant in terms of water and sunlight, just as parents provide three sound meals and a moral foundation to the next generation.

My pops just gave me tomato cages to protect my plants from wildlife and provide structure to grow accordingly, just like he did in fatherhood. The cages put my little plant to shame, like a third grader at the YMCA trying on a Shaquille O’Neal jersey. My father has high hopes for my gardening. I hope his optimism carries down generations to come.

Things to ponder while I’m consuming store-bought salsa.

It’s not the harvest.

It’s the memories that last.

Tony Michaels is an author and creator of the website www.baldandwitty.com and a lover of salsa.