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Friday, February 26, 2021

Tomato Seedlings Are Launched


Last weekend, I started our tomato plants for our vegetable garden in pots indoors. 

You may remember that late last winter I was concerned I might not be able to get out to a nursery to buy our tomato plants for our vegetable garden, so I chose to start our plants from a small amount of seeds I had leftover from a few years prior. On March 1, I planted enough for 6 plants (of which 5 survived), using up all of the seeds. 

Those plants were just a little on the small and young side when I set them out into the garden. My primary garden pest in early spring is the slug. If seedlings are on the small side, I think the slugs believe I planted them just for their enjoyment. So, I waited an extra week or two to plant out the tomato seedlings, which meant the actual fruit developed a couple of weeks later than I would have liked. 

Fast forward to 2021, I ordered tomato seeds in January so I could be sure to get a variety that I know works in our PNW conditions and not pay too much. I began this year's seeds about 9 days earlier in the season with hopes for slightly earlier fruit and bigger plants at transplant time.

I now have a bunch of tiny seedlings growing under a plant light in the laundry room. I'll use 5 or 6 plants with the extra ones for giving away in mid to late April. I know a couple of people who aren't normally gardeners but might like to try a tomato plant, especially if it's free to them. We'll see.

I'm currently thinking through what I want to grow this summer and which other seeds I'll need to buy. Spring comes in a hurry, so I'd better get busy with planning.

How about you? Will you be growing a vegetable garden this year? Do you start any of your seeds indoors or do you plant them all out into the ground?


8 comments:

  1. My hubby is watching hockey now but I plan on having him read L&L's latest post on using milk jugs as mini greenhouses in a little bit. We can't do indoor seed planting due to the cat, who is interested in plants. Really, really interested. You know that gardening is not my strong point but husband loves it so it all works out. He made a cold frame last spring and we enjoyed fresh lettuce for quite awhile.

    I've heard that some seeds have been hard to find again this year. Hope your gardening efforts are successful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      This was my thought when I ordered the tomato seeds. I suspected that they may not be as plentiful as I'd like and I have a specific variety that works in a not completely full sun garden. So, I ordered those in January when I thought fewer people would be looking for seeds. I hope your husband has all the seeds he needs for this summer.

      Delete
  2. Gardening is hard here. Very, very hard. Dh built me a small greenhouse a few years ago so I usually plant tomatoes and zucchini in there-with mixed results. Currently I have spinach and green beans growing in pots in my dining room-just for the heck of it, to see if I can grow them indoors. There are things that will grow here, but the last time I put in a real garden the deer ate every single thing. We rarely have a frost free month. We used to have a very large greenhouse but it got too hot in that, even with the fan running, so Dh rebuilt the greenhouse and it’s now a shed for 4 wheelers. I keep trying to garden, but it’s very expensive to keep failing, and very frustrating. I bought some tomato seeds to start my own plants this year. At least when I get a dozen tomatoes from the plants they will have been cheaper. I always start my own zucchini.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Diane,
      That's so frustrating that the deer will eat it all. I planted out zucchini seedlings when they were too small last year and slugs ate every single plant. This is a vegetable (or not eaten like one) but I wonder if deer would leave rhubarb alone. The squirrels, bunnies, slugs won't touch our rhubarb.

      Good luck with your indoor gardening. Do you do sprouts? I posted a year ago about growing lentil sprouts. They're so easy and provide fresh veggies for pennies. I use ordinary grocery store lentils, so no expensive seeds or anything. Here are 2 posts:

      http://www.creativesavv.com/2020/01/my-sprout-growing-operation.html
      http://www.creativesavv.com/2019/10/3-ways-to-grow-your-winter-veggies.html

      I share your thoughts on starting from seeds -- even if I don't get a lot of tomatoes, the seeds were pretty inexpensive.

      Delete
  3. My husband doesn’t like sprouts but,at my urging, my vegetarian dd grows her own now. I don’t think the deer will eat rhubarb, but neither do we lol. I do have some raspberry bushes up near the house that I transplanted from the mountains (sshhh) and they do ok. I tried strawberries and blueberries but they vanished so the deer or rabbits liked them I guess. What the deer didn’t eat they trampled. If we lived in town gardening would be easier, but we don’t. We’ve lived here 20 years. I shrug off the failures and come up with a new plan the next year lol. Everyone needs a challenge to keep life interesting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, there's no point growing what you don't want to eat, Diane. Good luck with your new plan.

      Delete
  4. Yes! Started my tomatoes a couple weeks ago and most are up. Historically, we've had our plant lights on a shelving unit in the dining room this time of year, with the whole thing wrapped in plastic fencing to keep the cats out. But this year, we moved it into the just-married daughter's former bedroom, which has been so nice.

    Our normal planting date for potatoes is Valentine's, but we had to wait a bit because of the big snow and cold last week, so I got those planted out this week, along with sugar snaps and onions, radishes, and spinach. All a bit late, so we'll what happens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cat,
      Hopefully it will all work out just fine with your garden. Those veggies sounds so fresh and appealing right now.
      Oh, that's a good idea -- moving the seedlings into a spot in your daughter's old bedroom.

      Delete

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