Tomato Thrills!

The first tomatoes of the season have appeared. There are three plants with these adorable, tiny, green, fuzzy circles of up-and-coming goodness. I can't tell you how excited I was to see them and I squeaked out in my raspy (sick) voice "the first tomatoes are here!!" It seems even my neighbours heard me. (A little embarrassing, given they have a long way to go to be successful and last year's tomatoes ended up with blight). Anyhooo...I am delighted that even though Sprinkle didn't pamper the plants, they are fruiting. YES!! Maybe on one of my next few posts I will share pictures with you of the tenacious tomato plant that I inherited (Sprinkle was throwing it out because it had broken at the base of the plant...I scooped it up because I couldn't bear to not try and save it). For now, the little bundles of potential yumminess are being encouraged to swelll, even though the sun isn't being all that helpful.

I wanna be a garden...

So, here is one of the plots of land that we will be farming this year. Yeeehooo! We are currently waiting for a soil test to return (the professional kind this time), and we need to work with the owner of the land to get a fence up to keep the sheep from eating the goodies that are going to grow as well as work out the logistics of such a venture, plus tilling the land and adding whatever nutrients might be needed.

Other than that, the seedlings have required a lot of work lately. I've learned a few things since I began such as: some seeds require warm soil to germinate and so it makes good sense to plant them in the same tray so they can be placed on a warming mat...so, I've moved around my seedlings to ensure that peppers (four different kinds), melons, tomatillos, and cucumbers are together to get the warm start they require. I have moved broccoli and brussel sprouts and beets off of the warming mat to see what happens for them (not sure if any of these would do better with the heat). I also have a pretty nifty shelf unit set up with lights on both shelves and I have raised the seed beds so they are within 3" of the lights. Also, I put a fan on the lowest setting a couple of times a day to help the seedlings grow strong and not be too leggy. Some of my peppers are off to a good start! I hope to have a picture to show you the progress in about a week.

I also promise to put a picture of Sprinkle's tomato seedlings on here. They have done so well (as Sprinkle says, "they are not going to be spoiled"--that means I pamper mine too much in Sprinkle's opinion). The tomato seedlings have already made it into larger pots and they get moved in and out of the front porch daily (who says they aren't spoiled?!) Ooooh and they smell so good...