Question about Tomatoes

First: is it "tomatoes" or "tomatos?" Is there an "e" or not when its plural? Or am I confusing it with "potato?"
Second: I heard from someone that when a plant has a flower bloom, you should pinch it off or the fruit/veggie will be bitter...? My tomato plants have these:
So...I'd love any and all comments. Especially useful ones. Kthanks!

A Spiritual Analogy

I've become accustomed to a wonderful habit; on Sunday mornings, I get up, make some coffee, then enjoy my coffee and cereal on our deck (thanks Walker boys!) and read or sometimes just watch the birds...and the garden. Its fantastic. Anyway...yesterday I was keeping this wonderful habit and doing my Bible study about thoughts. I was thinking/pondering about what I was reading, while looking at my garden. The sun was coming through the tree branches, and landed on just one row of the garden: the corn.
For those who don't know, I've had really low expectations for the corn. It needs LOTS of sun and my backyard is pretty shady. But you can't be a farmer and NOT have corn...so I have some. But I don't really expect much to come of it. But here was something I didn't expect. God had the sunlight coming through just for the corn. Look!

It occured to me that God provides just what we need, just when we need it. I'm so guilty about needing to have my own plan in my own time...and not so much completely trusting God to meet my needs. I'm thinking if God cares enough about a silly row of baby corn plants, He cares about me and will meet my needs. Whoever would have thought a pile of dirt could represent so much??

Got It...Again

And here is what poison ivy looks like as a plant...
And here is what it looks like on me...

Ok, so that's not me. I don't think I'll take a picture of myself...since its EVERYWHERE on my body. Seesh. These had better be some goooood veggies.

Plants Everywhere!!!

I have plants everywhere! I now have little baby plants growing from all my seeds, and the other plants are growing strong. I'm so excited - no idea if fruit (or veggies) will come, but I can at least grow a plant from a seed. Here is the corn - a whole row of it:
Lee is my photographer, so he gets all credit for the awesome photos. Here's a picture of my squash - I'm almost as excited about the squash as I am about the green beans...
For those who are concerned about the forest of bamboo in our back yard, no worries! Bamboo apparently NEVER dies...I had this lovely surprise on the edge of the garden just yesterday: Good thing I bought Lee a machete.

The Goods

I didn't realize that I never identified everything I planted. I'll do that now for those of you who asked. (Ok...so no one asked. But I like to think there are questions out there...don't pop my bubble.)

First is a whole row of tomatos. I actually had two tomato plants left over that I put in a pot. Next, two rows of green beans - bush not vine. I love green beans. These are the ones that have baby sprouts already!! Next are the squash plants - these have already grown a little too! Next are the cucumbers. The seed packet said to plant the seeds on top of a hill. Never heard of this, but I attempted. I also hadn't originally planned on cucumbers, but a fellow-gardener suggested cucumber in case nothing else grew. Thanks, Dianne! Next I have a row of green pepper plants. I can't tell any difference in these. Next I planted corn. Because you're not a real farmer if you don't have corn. Last, I planted watermelon. For baby brother. After all, he helped dig. I'm practically Anne of Green Gables already. (FYI - that's my dream.)

Bean Sprouts!!

I have bean sprouts!!! From seeds, now one good week after planting, I have little baby plants! I'm so excited - I might actually GROW something!

Just like the Little Red Hen

I decided to have a garden. My sweet baby brother helped me dig the initial plot of earth. He's the best. But the turned over part was just that - big lumps of Clinton-clay mixed with lots of bamboo roots and worms. So I rented a tiller. Yes. I did. Since I was already getting the dirt/clay good and fine, I added about 10-11 bags of manure compost to the dirt. Tilled and mixed.
Then it was time to plant! I'm on a budget, so after spending money on the manure and tiller, I was careful about the plants/seeds. Green beans were a must, and I couldn't (easily) find plants, so beans it was. Tomato plants were plenty, and since tomatoes are equally important, I didn't want to take any chances: plants! Home Depot had good-looking squash and green pepper plants, so I bought a few of those. And at my brother's insistance, also bought some watermelon. I wanted to try corn, and was informed cucumbers would grow fairly easily...so I planted a row for my own self esteem. I don't want to be a complete failure. I followed any directions on the seed or plant packages...and my good old common sense. Plant in dirt, water.