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.
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