Springtime is Just Around the Corner

After church today, we had our Sunday merienda (click HERE for a post from 2012 to read what that's all about).  Then we walked to the garden and out in the yard just observing signs of spring.  We haven't had much of a winter.  If I'm remembering correctly, we've only had one freeze.  It was an uncharacteristic early one back in November.  It knocked out my broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage seedlings and I had to replant.  We're harvesting that right now.

Anyway, with Spring on the way, it is time to move things forward on the tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings we planted right at the end of the year.  They all have true leaves on and it is time to re-pot them as I generally plant at least two seeds in each seed pot.  In everything you read, this is where you thin them out.  You pull out the weakest looking plant and throw it away as you don't want them overcrowded or to get root-bound.

I never do this.  It takes a little more time, but I break them apart, carefully separating the roots in order to save BOTH plants.  I'll either plant them or give the ones I don't need away.  I began this process last Saturday.

Lilac Bell Peppers (Purple Peppers)

I use an old spoon to pull the plants out of the pot.  It works good as a scoop so you don't damage the roots.  An old fork works well, too.  Then I put soil in another seed trays to give the seedlings a seed pot of their own to continue growing in.

It is a slow process, but that is the nice thing about Saturdays.  No rush or deadline.  You can take your time.  We set up a table underneath the big live oak and put on a playlist of Old Time Classic Country and began an enjoyable labor of love.  As Johnny Cash sang "I walk the line" I sang along too.  Perhaps too loudly.  In no time, the seed trays filled up with seedlings individually potted.  You could almost sense the plants' relief at having some elbow room.

We re-label each seed-pot so we know which is which

Tricia was raking sticks and leaves and we got a fire burning in the fire pit.  With all the plants re-potted, I mixed up some diluted fish emulsion and sprayed the plants with it to give them some "get up and go."

Finishing the job

Now that we've got that done.  It's hurry up and wait until we are sure that we're past the last frost date.  Then we'll transplant these in the garden.  In our area, our average last date of frost risk is February 26th.  We've got other things to start working on while we wait.  Maybe we'll show some of those undertakings this week.

A Little Room To Stretch Out

Winter time is a time where we eat a lot of gumbo with white rice.  It is warming and soothing.  And filling.  It is usually too wet and muddy and nasty to get outside and do any gardening or manual labor that I normally do for the sheer love of it.  Working outside provides another benefit - it keeps me in shape.  In winter, though, the weather isn't conducive to that and as a result, I eat too much gumbo and do too little work and thus, come early February, I always notice that my Wrangler jeans have shrunk for some reason.  It is the oddest occurrence.  Because as soon as the weather gets nicer, my jeans expand and are comfortable again.  Go figure.

I say all that because that is what I thought about when looking at our tomatoes.  They are growing and running out of room to grow in their seed pots.  Their roots have filled every centimeter of space.  Many simply clip the smaller plant and let the dominant one survive, but I look at that as a waste.  These tomato plants - all of them - are going to produce fruit.  I'm not thinning out a single one.

Running out of room to grow

This weekend, in a job that took a couple of hours, I carefully and tediously, used a plastic knife and spoon to dig the root ball of the tomato seedlings out of the seed pot.  Then I painstakingly separated the conjoined plants and placed them in their very own cup where they have room to stretch out and grow. 

I used some of the soil that we made IN THIS BLOG POST to put in the very bottom of the cup.  The composted chicken manure that makes up 1/3 of the mix ought to give the tomatoes some 'get up and go' and make them turn a healthy green.  They had run out of nutrients and had an unhealthy color to them.  I re-potted them in Community Coffee cups.  Perhaps there's some residual caffeine in the cup that will wake them up and rejuvenate them as well.

This is just one of our varieties of heirloom tomatoes called Black from Tula.  They formerly occupied a little four-pack and were root bound.  Now they have room to grow.  It's almost as if they loosened their belts a notch after eating too much gumbo and now can expand freely.

Here is the finished product after separating all the tomatoes and putting them back underneath the grow light.

This weekend I'll need to do the same with the pepper plants.

Thinning Out the Seedlings

Before we get to the thinning, I wanted to show you a number of pepper seedlings that I just re-potted into some larger pots.  There is a wide diversity of pepper plants including: Emerald Green Peppers, Horizon peppers, Criolla Sella Peppers, Hot Jalapeno Peppers, Craig's Giant Jalapenos, Banana Peppers, and Cayenne Peppers.  They were planted on January 8th and are growing nicely under the fluorescent lights on top of the cabinet in the utility room.

Now to the thinning.  I plant two seeds to the seed pot, and that means that if I achieve 100% germination, I'll have 8 tomato plants of each variety.  The trouble with having two seedlings growing in each pot is that as they grow, they crowd each other out and get root-bound.  It is best if you thin them out to promote the growth of a healthy plant.  You can see that they are just starting to put on their second set of true leaves.  Once the second leaves are fully out, I'll mix up some fish emulsion at 1/2 strength dose and spray on the foliage to give them a boost.

They are all looking very healthy... except for the Valencia 749 Yellow Tomatoes. My germination percent on these was 0%.  These were some seeds I saved from 2012.  I guess it is time to throw those seeds away!

Here are eight Cherokee Purple Tomato seedlings that I need to thin.  Most publications will tell you to get some scissors and cut off the weakest of the two at soil level.  I always think, "Why destroy a perfectly fine tomato?"  I separate the roots of the two plants and transplant into another container so that I have eight seedlings each growing in its own seed pot.  I have assembled a highly specialized tool that enables me to separate the roots and transplant the seedlings without damaging them.  That tool is a plastic fork.

Pink Brandywine Tomato Seedlings

I simply press the fork straight down midway between the two seedlings and scoop upward while holding the other down.  It is easily lifted and transplanted.

A plastic seed transplanting fork

Then I fill the seed pots with some organic potting mix, give them a good sprinkling of water and put them back under the grow light.  They have a little "elbow room" now.

As I placed the plants back underneath the lights, something caught my eye!

Well, it's a ladybug hanging out with the peppers and tomatoes.  That's a good thing!