It's almost planting time!

Well it is almost time to start putting transplants out in the garden. The picture shows the current state of my tomato and pepper transplants that have been growing in my pantry for the last two months. I just put some of them into larger pots and moved the grow light up to accommodate their growth. I had the light hanging under the shelf, but the plants were growing up into it. Rather than find somewhere else where I can properly hang the light above the plants, I just set it on top of the wire shelf to let the light shine through. Hopefully the light is still bright enough to keep everything nice and stocky.

I have learned some things from this experience growing my own transplants.

• A two foot grow light fits over lots of small transplants, but not lots of big ones.
• It is painful to have to decide which seedlings to throw out.
• The little Jiffy pots from Lowes are way too small to keep a transplant in.
• I should plant with the expectation that I will repot my seedlings a couple times before putting them out in the garden.

The last of these points is interesting. Why would not not just start my transplants in something big enough to leave them in until they are ready to plant? The answer is that tomatoes have the incredible ability to quickly grow roots anywhere that they are in contact with the soil. By removing all but the top few leaves and replanting the seedling, I am encouraging it to grow a large root system prior to going out in the garden. If I had just left it to grow on its own in a large pot, I would not get this extra boost of converting stem into root.

Earlier I posted a picture of my little spindly seedlings. I was able to save them by replanting them all as deeply as I could, and they are the same seedlings in the picture today.

I have been busy getting the garden ready for spring. Last weekend I tilled under all of my pea plants, freezing the few peas I was able to get off of them. I just figure that they are serving mostly as a green manure to get some organic matter into my soil. I have also planted grapes, blackberries, and a pomegranate tree in the past few weeks, so hopefully they will all get off to a good start this spring. You can see in the next picture the peas I froze. We managed to get a whole three cups of shelled peas, and another 3 cups of young pods.