Mature seedlings, ready for transplant

I'm already about 3 weeks behind where I was last year, when I started out with store-bought seedlings.  My failure was being hesitant to start the seedlings too early, where temperatures were still quite cool.  A bit late on dealing with it, I did manage to get a heating pad that helped a lot.  It will come in handy next year and I hope to get germination underway in March next year.

Anyway...

A few weeks ago, I transplanted my seedlings into pots.  I was thrilled with so much germination going on.  I honestly didn't expect more than 50% of the seeds I planted to sprout.  About 75% of the Russian Oxheart sprouted and about 90% of the Black Krim got going.  The Sara's Galapagos took 2 weeks longer to show any signs.  I'll have to remember that next year, to start them earlier.

Thus, with so many seedlings and so little room to grow them, I was saddened to think that so many of these would be tossed out.  THANKFULLY, a friend of mine told me about a lady who was remiss on being late with tomato seed germination.  I gave my left over seedlings to him, to transfer to that lady.  I heard later she was thrilled.  I hope she has a great growing season!  Here's part of the carnage:

This was what I had left over after selecting the tallest and heartiest looking seedlings for my growing.  I honestly didn't expect them to work out so well.  I was lamenting that I didn't buy a commercial seed starter kit, but next year I'm going to go this route again.  Might as well put this Styrofoam to good use!

I was somewhat smart and marked up the existing labels with initials, to help identify the varieties.  BK - Black Krim, RO - Russian Oxheart, BP - Black Plum, and SG - Sara's Galapagos.  Yet, I was also somewhat negligent and managed to leave off a label on the little green pot.  I'm pretty sure it's a Black Krim, but there's a chance it may be a Russian Oxheart.  However, there might be a way to tell... which I'll point out in my next post.