Fill Her Up, Please!

It's as if they're at the gas station waiting for a fill up!  Time for tomatoes to be topped off with more potting soil. They were transplanted five days ago and already need additional soil to support their stems and provide a means toward a more robust root system.

Believe it or not, there are more on the other counter!!

Getting Caught Up

I am definitely falling behind in my garden schedule. I hope to make a concerted effort over the next few days to sow seeds and thin and transplant seedlings.

The first task of the day was to finish thinning and transplanting the tomato seedlings. I now have a total of 164 tomato seedlings.

I then thinned the pepper plants, leaving just one seedling per cup.  I did not transplant too many seedlings, rather I just threw the extras away.  I have about 60 pepper plants in total.

Postscript #1 - I am declaring the following tomato and pepper seeds not viable:

Red Mercury Peppers

New Mexico Red Chili Peppers

Serano Peppers

Jalapeno Peppers (harvested)

Blue Beauty Tomatoes

Burpee Italian Roma Tomatoes

Big Boy Tomatoes

Postscript #2 - I am also declaring non-viable the savoy cabbage seeds.

Being Ruthless, Hard As That Is

The most important chore today is to thin tomato seedlings. Originally, I was planning to grow just one seedling per cup with the intention of throwing away the weaker ones. But I've decided to save on a case by case basis some of those extra seedlings. As always, it will be difficult to throw away good seedlings.

I took a quick walk around the garden and noticed that some perennial vegetables and fruits are waking up after a long winter.

Rhubarb

Blueberries

Kiwi Raspberries

Chives 

Thyme

Postscript #1 - There was germination from an Amana Orange tomato.

Additional Tomato and Pepper Seedlings

More tomato seedlings have emerged:

1. Black Krim
2. Japanese Trifele
3. Pink Oxheart
4. Brandywine Yellow
5. Green Zebra

Tomato varieties still waiting for:

1. Amana Orange
2. Blue Beauty
3. Italian Roma, Burpee 
4. Principe Borghese
5. Tiny Tim
6. White Wonder

The pepper seedlings that have emerged include: 

1. Paprika
2. Lipstick
3. Shishito
4. Mini Red
5. California Orange Bell

Tomato and Pepper Seedlings

We have lift off!  Many tomato seeds have germinated and for me this is the start of the garden season!!  The following varieties have germinated (sowed April 4, 6 days):

1. Brandywine Red
2. Brandywine Pink
3. Cherokee Purple
4. Italian Roma
5. Tigerella
6. Celebrity
7. Chocolate Cherry
8. Italian Grape
9. Dad's Mug
10. Crimson Cushion
11. Super Beefsteak
12. Rutgers
13. Thessaloniki
14. Amish Paste
15. Independence Day
16. Roman Candle
17. Abe Lincoln
18. Big Boy
19. Marglobe
20. Mortgage Lifter
21. Jet Star
22. Box Car Willie
23. Beefsteak
24. Pineapple
25. Sungold
26. Best Boy
27. Gardener's Delight
28. Kellogg's Yellow Breakfast
29. Italian Roma (harvested)
30. Eva's Purple Ball

The pepper varieties that have germinated include:

1. Mini Orange
2. Mini Yellow

Finally! Sowing Tomato Seeds!

I usually start my tomato seedlings earlier, but with the winter and early spring being so cold and snowy, I figured a two-week delay may be necessary.  I sowed the seeds into four-inch pots and 16 ounce cups with the hope I won't have to up-pot them. But, if so, I have six-inch pots waiting in the shed.

I did not use Miracle Grow products for the tomato seedlings.  Instead, I picked up another bag of Metromix, a far superior product.

I like to plant the "tried and true", like Italian Romas, Brandywines, Mortgage Lifter, Marglobes, Sungolds, etc., but also experiment with new varieties using what I call the Noah's Ark method (planting two each). In addition to this initial planting, I will snip off the suckers of my favorite varieties and root them in containers to be used in the hoophouse center aisle.  This method allowed me to have fresh tomatoes through early November 2014.

Here is a list of the varieties sowed for 2015:

• 1  Abe Lincoln
• 3  Amana Orange
• 4  Amish Paste
• 3  Beefsteak
• 3  Best Boy
• 1 Big Boy
• 3 Black Krim harvested
• 2 Blue Beauty
• 3  Box Car Willie
• 5 Brandywine Pink
• 5 Brandywine Red
• 3 Brandywine Yellow
• 3 Celebrity
• 5 Cherokee Purple
• 1 Chocolate Cherry
• 1 Crimson Cushion
• 1 Dad's Mug
• 3 Eva Purple Ball
• 3 Gardener's delight
• 1 Green Zebra
• 1  Independence Day
• 2 Italian Grape, harvested 2014
• 2 Italian Roma, Burpee 
• 2 Italian Roma, harvested, originally from Botanical Interests 
• 13 Italian Roma, Botanical Interests
• 3  Jet Star
• 3 Japanese Trifle
• 1 Kellogg's Yellow Breakfast
• 5 Marglobe
• 4 Mortgage Lifter
• 3 Pineapple
• 2 Pink Oxheart
• 3 Principie Borghese
• 1  Roman Candle
• 4 Rutgers
• 3 Sungold
• 1 Super Beefsteak
• 4 Thessaloniki, harvested 2014
• 3 Tigerella
• 2 Tiny Tim
• 2 White Wonder

Postscript #1 - Germination from Red Romaine lettuce (sowed April 1, 3 days), Buttercrunch lettuce (sowed April 1, 3 days) and Hollyhocks Peaches 'n Dreams (sowed April 1, 3 days).

Weekend Odds 'n Ends #2

The "chitting" is coming along!

Five sweet potato slips growing good roots.

Following is a list of the chores completed this morning:

1. Watered as needed. 
2. Fertilized as needed. 
3. Thinned Independence Day tomatoes and added soil to top of containers. 
4. Thinned broccoli, kale, arugula and all six varieties of lettuce to one each container or cell. 
5. Transplanted three celery. 

Postscript #1 - Germination from the portulaca (sowed March 16, 6 days) and alyssum, Carpet of Snow and Royal Carpet (sowed March 20, 2 days).  The purple alyssum was about a half day behind on germination.