Monday, April 19, 2010

Tomatoes

We've had such warm weather that we decided to go ahead and get a few of our 'first time ever growing tomatoes from seed' tomatoes into the ground. We have never planted outside this early and have already been informed that another storm is on it's way, but the freezing weather should be over at this point and I think/hope these little guys can withstand what's coming.

The bulk of seedlings are still in little pots in our back yard.
We planted 10 and have 100 (I kid you not) left....what was I thinking...eek!


Provider green beans went into the ground also,
but a box of dirt does not make for a good photo :)

8 comments:

MAYBELLINE said...

I thought I was insane with the number of tomato plants I started; but you need to be committed.

Do you have problems with pill bugs? One year they mowed down my seedlings. I'm making sure this year I wait until the stems are much thicker and less tender for them.

Good luck.

Maureen said...

...tee hee :)

As for the bug issue, I've never had problems with them eating tomato plants in the past....but then I always planted later and bigger. I was just telling my hubby that I always plant double the amount of bean seeds necessary to make up for the pill bug destruction, so we definitely have our issues with those little guys. It might be fortuitous that we have so many extra tomato plants!

Anonymous said...

Can you give your extras to a community garden? Or does a town of 10,000 have a community garden?

Maureen said...

We actually don't have a community garden (maybe I need to start one) but I was considering giving them away on Freecycle. I just can't let them die!

Anonymous said...

I received a bunch of cool types of tomato seeds and direct planted them three weeks ago or so. Nothing. Not one has come up. Perhaps I ought to have started them indoors? Ya think? I transplanted five plants at the same time and they are thriving. First year rookie mistakes.

MommaofMany said...

Maureen, is it the right time to seed green beans directly to the soil? I was afraid it was too late. I was about to buy stars, but would LOVE to plant seeds if I can.

Maureen said...

Definitely! You can sow green beans now.....or for the next several months; our second crop went in the ground in Aug. last year.

Beans are by far the easiest and most forgiving of seeds, and buying them as seedlings would be expensive to get the number of plants you'll probably want.

Maureen said...

Kris, I tried direct seeding tomatoes one year as well....with no luck...mostly it's a timing thing.

If they go in the ground in March or April it's still too cold but if you wait until the soil warms up, then the summer heat will prevent them from setting fruit.

We started ours under lights in Feb. and they are now outside all the time but next year I'm starting in January!