Spring Seedling Update

It’s been two months since I started my seeds, so I thought I’d update with a little progress report on how the little fellas are doing.

This season I decided to start most of my veggies indoors, since my winter garden was still going strong through spring, and our spring weather had unusual bouts of cold and rain this year.

The first seeds germinated in early March in my window. I had almost 100 percent germination, so it was a very good start to the season.

The overachieving tomatoes were the first to surface with their fuzzy little stems. The chile peppers were the slowest, twiddling their thumbs and sprouting almost three weeks later, but that was to be expected since I didn’t provide them much heat.

Tomato seedlings looking good at 3 weeks old. They even smell good. At this point, I repotted them into 3-inch containers.

And now, my tomato plants growing robustly at 8 weeks old and measuring 8 inches tall. They’re almost ready to be repotted again.

At last count, I had around 115 pots stuffed with vegetable seedlings, some with multiple seedlings in them. I hardened off all of them at the same time, keeping them in a sunny spot in my yard in a temporary holding area. Friends who visit are impressed but think I’m nuts. I definitely have way more tomato plants than I have space for in the garden. Who knew that every single seed would come up and continue to grow like nobody’s business? And I’m too much of a softie to thin them out.

Can you guess what everyone’s Memorial Day gifts will be?

Despite the 115 pots, there are still more seeds that I’m direct-sowing into the ground in the next few weeks: cucumbers, beans, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, and radish, a few varieties of each. I hope my friends are hungry too.