Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Potting Up the Tomatoes

This past Saturday was the most beautiful day we've seen in a long time, seemingly across the country. Seems like everyone was outside stretching their gardening fingers in the soil once again.

I took some time and potted up the tomato transplants. I hadn't counted on all of them germinating and growing so strong. I'm very excited about this first round. I used a variety of left over peat pots and other gardening containers to pot them up
You can see that one mammoth Brandywine in the green pot below. That sucker grows while you watch him, I swear he does.
They all look so happy in their new homes. The temperatures should be in the 40's at night for the next week which is the same temperature as the basement they've been staying in, so I'm going to leave them outside for the next week or so, or until we get down to the 30's at night again. Which it will undoubtedly be before long.
My Big Momma and Yellow Pear that I planted last week still haven't germinated, so I've put those outside as well, hoping that the warm sun will help. I've run out of containers and students are sick of seeing me coming and standing over them while they finish their cottage cheese or yogurt at lunch so I can snag those containers to transplant the rest of the tomatoes in. Some have even taken to collecting their friends' containers and bringing them by. It's great!
The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

14 comments:

  1. And you thought your couldn't grow tomatoes! Look at all those beauties :-)

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  2. I see I'm not the only one, LOL! I love to scavenge and re-use, and I'll need some spare containers because I went wild with the new greenhouse this year! I have more seedlings than ever before, and I'm not done yet..

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  3. Dan, thanks for convincing me I could and allowing me the opportunity to try.

    Rebecca, it's the one place I may be able to save money in the garden in the long run. Hopefully these containers can last a couple of years.....Hopefully.

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  4. Ribbit, if you call around to a few local landscapers you'll probably find some that will let you come and take all the plastic pots of different sizes you want. They throw a lot away, and I have all kinds, from 4 inches to 30 gallons, that my husband has brought home for me from work.

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  5. You know, my neighbor owns a landscaping company! I never thought about that.

    Excellent idea!

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  6. Look at those little tomato babies.. they are kicking with life. They must have responded well to the care and attention.. ~bangchik

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  7. Your seedlings look picture - perfect! Yay for you!!!! I notice you have a couple with potato leaves, are they brandywine?

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  8. What beautiful tomatoes. Well done!

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  9. Thanks BC and GM! Yes, EG, those are the brandywine. I only hope they produce well.

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  10. Looks good! I need to repot mine... All of mine sprouted fine except one variety, "Red Zebra", I sowed about 15 so far and germination is a big fat 0%! Maybe I should call Baker Creek on that one, I have never had a bum batch of tomato seeds though...

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  11. Looking good! Makes me think I should've done mine a lot sooner. Oh well...

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  12. Ohh they are beautiful!!! I just love this weather, tomorrow through Sunday we are suppose to have highs in thE 70s. WOOHOO!!! I may start hardening off my tomato and squash plants this week. If it grows cold, I can always just keep them inside. Good job!! Do you have any Ox Heart tomatoes in the bunch? I am starting them from seed for the first year and I am nervous they won't do right.

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  13. No, no oxhearts although I'll be watching yours closely!

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