Tomatoes Planted

Tomatoes are in, planted yesterday February 24th. I have my tomatoes in eight, five-inch pots, six different varieties. I planted two types of cherry tomatoes, three mid-size and mid-summer, and three heirloom tomatoes that are full size and long term.

Pots with loose covers set in place

Over the years, I have planted many hybrids and also many old time heirloom varieties. I have now settled on a mix of old and new, big and small, determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. Basically, we plant what we like to eat. Odd!

Should see my first shoots in about a week

I also planted some flowers that take a long time to mature, I am especially excited about the chocolate mint coleus. If it is something I can easily buy at a big box store I do not start them, I only start plants from seeds that I want to try, but cannot find.

I start flowers in a 64,  one-inch cell planter

Most seed packets say to start seeds six to eight weeks before it is time to set out. I have found that a bit earlier than that works well. I have about eleven or twelve weeks before it is time to set out. Here is what I have found, count the six to eight weeks after the first true leaves appear, not from the day the seeds were placed in the soil. This means my tomatoes will be about eight weeks old when I set them out. Perfect!

Do not forget to put a label stick in the pot - too hard to remember

One final hint. I plant my five-inch pots with four seeds each. once the plants have their first true set of leaves I remove all but the best one or two. When planting time comes I carefully remove tomatoes plants from pots and plant the entire root ball, not much shock this way. Then I use the pots for flowers from a nursery or greenhouse and set them out.

Just getting started last year - This was June 5th, after a very cold spring
Some years I am three weeks early, this looks like that type of year.
Garden should look like this by the middle of  May

Garden Update

The garden is up and growing, doing quite well despite the cool nighttime temperatures here in Wyoming. The weather guys said, hot next week, several days in the mid-90s but when I checked again today, it says mid-70s. Darn the luck!

 

We are eating radishes and green onions from the garden, with the first tomato and strawberries about three weeks away, maybe two, with some good growing weather.

 

I have discussed my onion planting on my blogs before but it might be well worth another look. I plant onions one to one and a half inches apart, yep, one or a tad more inches. I thin by pulling to eat the green onions, eventually ending with onions having enough room to grow into large storage onions. I plant mostly sweet varieties and have found that they store better than many people think.

 

We are fast approaching my favorite time of year – fresh stuff from the garden time!

 

Spring and the New Garden

Must be getting close to spring. How am I so sure that spring is close? I planted my first seed flats yesterday.

Not much, only 72 cells, all flowers, petunias, pansies snapdragons and some very bright red poppies. Might be a bit early for the snapdragons but the petunias and pansies will need 12 weeks and that puts me to the middle of May. As for the poppies, have had a tough time growing poppies from seed in my beds the last few years. This is my first attempt at starting them in flats. If they get too big I will put them in a pot I can bring in at night.

March 1, I will be starting my tomatoes and onions. I have grown my own onion plants the last few years and I have been very satisfied with the results.

Tonight a good gardening class at the school—yep, spring is near!