Eileen M. Adams/Sun Journal

Ray Carver of Roxbury Road in Mexico has been babying this cherry tomato plant since he started it in his home in mid-April. He fertilized it every four days, and watered it as much as three times a day during the hot weather. On Thursday, it reached a height of 8 feet, and with a few more weeks remaining in the gardening season, he expects it will get as high as 9. He has harvested dozens of bright red cherry tomatoes to eat and to sell. In all his years of growing gardens, he’s never grown one quite as tall as this, he said. He said he bought the seeds at a local department store. The others shown are also doing well, at about 4 feet tall.