I Can Already Taste the Salsa: Potting Up the Tomatoes

It actually wasn't raining this weekend!  I took advantage of the nice, dry, but windy weather to pot up my tomato seedlings.  My potting table is one that belonged to my guy's grandmother.  I believe it was made by his grandfather.  I thoroughly enjoyed taking my little tomato seed 'pucks' that I tried out this year and dropping them into the bigger containers.  It was very easy and convenient.  You can see in my picture that I had a LOT of tomato seedlings in this tray.  The tray came with 12 rows of 6 little soil pucks.  I planted them all in tomatoes and they did great.  Whenever I buy something from a greenhouse and it comes in one of those little 3 or 4-inch pots, I save them.  They make great containers for moving the seedlings up and giving them more room for their roots to spread out. 

As I potted them up, I put them into rows on the patio, and my stepdaughter gave them a drink.  This was their first day outside in real sunlight.  It was very breezy, so they got sunlight and movement.  The breeze stimulates the seedlings to grow more sturdy and stocky, and then they will be better acclimated to conditions outside.   When I pot the seedlings up, I also bury them just a little deeper then they were before.  When I plant them out in the garden, I will again plant them where the lowest part of the stem is below the soil.  Roots will grow out from that part of the stem and make the plant stronger. 

This is the final class picture.  69 tomato plants!  12 different varieties.  The fun part now is carrying these things in and out of my basement for the next few weeks.  It makes me want a greenhouse, NOW.  But sigh, for now, I will get extra cardio going up and down the stairs.  These seeds are actually ALL heirlooms this year too.  I will have future posts talking about what varieties I chose to grow and why.  Until then...are you growing tomatoes from seed this year?