Monday, May 27, 2013

The Great Tomato Transplant

Yesterday, I planted my tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes in pots and raised beds outdoors.  As carefully as one tries to plan, unexpected things happen and when it comes to what actually gets put in the garden, there are always a few surprises at the last minute.  I planted...

- Doe Hill peppers (2 or 3) and jalapeno peppers (2 or 3).  Possibly 1 King of the North Pepper.  Time will tell.
- Casper, Ping Tung, and Vittoria Eggplants (4 total).  This blog might be called, I Will Grow Eggplants but judging by the looks of the poor little ones I have, maybe I should change the title to the less-ambitious-yet-still-optimistic, I Will Plant Eggplants.
- Marigolds
- Tomatoes.  LOTS of tomatoes.  

The King of the North pepper seeds I received in a trade earlier this year and started in April turned out to be tomatoes instead.  I was extremely careful about labeling my seedlings, so whoever I did the trade with either got things mixed up, or has a sick sense of humor. *L*  As a result, I have far fewer peppers than I wanted, and ended up with 33 tomato plants!   

Realizing we didn't have enough space for all of them, I prioritized by the varieties I most wanted to grow and the health of the plants, and went to work planting those.  I was left with 13 plants, which I decided I'd try to give away.  Instead, R pulled out a bunch of the buckets we use for rainwater, placed them along the fence by the potato patch, bought several large bags of soil, and I planted the extras in those yesterday afternoon.

If they all do well, we are going to have plenty to eat fresh, dice and freeze, and share with friends and family.  

The timing was good, as it started to sprinkle late yesterday afternoon.  Today, we have had heavy showers with hail, thunder, and lightning.  The rain barrels are almost full now, and there are puddles in the driveway and south garden.  The bucket-tomatoes, which have no drainage, are soaked but don't appear to be waterlogged.  I'd be mighty ticked if they croaked within 24 hours of my backbreaking (not sure I mean that figuritively...) work planting them yesterday!


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