Monday, March 22, 2010

Anticipation..

From And Sow My Garden Grows
From And Sow My Garden Grows

My tomato seedlings graduated from their Jiffy cells to 3" peat pots and the brandywine variety to even larger pots.  They seem to all be doing pretty well thankfully because between the 2 kids & the daily tasks it's one more thing for me to remember. It's a lot of work to baby these little guys! It's paying off though as I've only lost one. This makes me smile because this is my first attempt with growing tomatoes by seed. I have the routine down now and really take pride in the process. Especially after hitting the nursery over the weekend and seeing the same varieties for 2.99 each! I take the plants outside every morning setting them in indirect sun and moving them throughout the day as the sun moves & finally bringing them back in the evening.  Hopefully they will be a lot taller by planting time and I do hope that they fruit well and are productive - I will be giving away quite a few and feel so responsible for them!  I love Farmer Fred's Blog and he recently posted great tomato tips. He recommends late April early May for planting. Not sure if I'll hold off that long with planting - I'm so darn impatient.  Last year I planted the 1st weekend in April and it was our best year yet. Perhaps the raised beds played a part in that as the soil temperature is much warmer.  In the meantime I'm prepping the beds with compost and tucking in the nasturtium seeds along the edges of beds and keeping the zinna, cosmo, and other seeds in the ground damp so the germination process kicks off. It's going to be wonderful watching the yard bloom again!

2 comments:

Caffeinated Mom said...

Your babies look great!! I just started my first tomato seeds on Saturday and can't wait for them to be planted safely in their permanent pots so I can finally breath a sigh of relief! I can't wait to watch along as your tomatoes grow. It sounds like your garden is going to be just beautiful!

And Sow My Garden Grows said...

Caffeinated Mom, Thanks so much for the wonderful compliment! It's been quite a process growing tomatoes by seed and a bit of work but very rewarding. I do wonder & worry a bit how productive the plant will be (high hopes!) Keep us updated on your tomatoes and much luck to you. I can't wait to read more!