Get Ready for a Long One!

A picture-intensive post today. 

I am doing this today, or rather, just got finished doing this: 

More transplanting. 

As you can see, the tomatoes, in their deeper seed starting trays, were doing very well. 

They had grown up to kiss the grow lights above them. 

I used a tablespoon to lift them gently from the liners.  See the root ball? 

Now, biggify this, and you will see roots hanging down six inches below the tomato! 

I put these more vigorous plants in large Jiffy pots. 

I very gently plucked off the cotyledons, the first two "leaves" that open on the tomato.  I put these cotyledons in each pot, to get some good from them as they compost in the starter mix. 

Now, do as I SAY, not as I do.... clear your table before starting to work... of the flashlights, miscellaneous papers, the Sunday morning paper, your car keys, your pasture camera and extra pots and planting materials. 

At this point, I am going to have to say that of the three tomatoes I started, the Burpee Super Sauce is not as vigorous as the two heirlooms ("Abu Rawan" and "Gypsy".  Their plants (some on the right, here) are strong and well-centered on their stems, and you can see them "standing up" in the pots, especially the larger ones.  The Super Sauce tomatoes, on the left... are not nearly as strong and nice, but I'm still growing them on. 

For an interesting discussion about the Super Sauce, go HERE.

Here is one tray on my rinky-dink set up in the office.  If we bump into that board sticking out, it's all goin' down!  Those are perennial flowers started next to the tomatoes, and I sure wish I had waited to start them.  They take so long to germinate though, that I will be growing them on for months.  

You can see through the doorway to the other growing set-up in the bedroom, with the light shining on the rest of the tomatoes.  These tomatoes will droop for a day or so, and then perk up and grown on, which is just what we want. 

Keith has gone to Home Depot to get the materials to close in the front of our little barn, so that if a critter or critters come our way, their new home will be weathered in and ready for them, and we will have a way to enclose them away from predators.  Not sayin' what's comin'..... yet. 

We're going to haul brush down to the brushpile today, and then I am going to plant some flower seeds, as we expect rain for the next three days.  We still need it badly here... and hope we get it.   A few days of tromping around in my wetboots won't hurt anything. 

I had the front door open to hear the birdsong as I worked... and my two helpers were laying in companionable silence together... how we love our faithful dogs! 

Oh, a word about the planting medium I used... I used Pro-Mix for the majority of the starts and transplants. I was running low so picked up some Jiffy, which I used for many years.  After comparing the two, I'm going to order some more Pro-Mix or try to find it around here, I think it was the superior of the two. 

Also... I am re-using my plastic liners, I'll clean them with the hose, and then store them away until next use, so I save some money on them. 

Our last frost date here is technically April 15, so we're nearing the point when I could get these tomatoes outside, but I have a long way to go... growing, and then hardening off... before doing that. 

I hope to share some of all three tomatoes with Kathy, next door.  

Off to do some work outside before Keith gets back...

That's it for a lovely spring morning at Calamity Acres.