My babies are growing up!

They almost look like the transplants you buy at the nursery, but they were 10 cents each instead of $4.

Isn’t that crazy awesome?!

Now let’s see if wan turn these transplants into beautiful fruit bearing vines.

Fingers crossed!

Last year, I started my tomatoes from seed with nothing to show for it. This year, I’m feeling hopeful and doing things a bit different. An experiment, if you will.

I planted the seeds in moist seed starting soil and watered them daily using a spray bottle to keep the soil wet on top. Once the first set of true leaves emerged, I potted them up into larger containers and topped them off with a spoonful of worm castings. From now on, I only water from the bottom. The stems of the seedlings do not like to get wet. It makes them weak and more likely to break. I water about once a week and add half a teaspoon of Fox Farm “Grow Big” liquid fertilizer to 1 gallon of water. I don’t use the whole gallon of water, only fill up the tray about 1/4″ each time.

Maybe if these tomato babies get strong while they’re young, it won’t be so much work trying to keep them alive later in the season. The hornworms and blight got me last year. (The varieties I grew were partially to blame)

I will be following this same method with my peppers and cucumbers. I will check back later to see if this method was successful or not.