Seedlings and Seeds

On February 4th, I started some chives (front center), oregano (right most) and cilantro (left most, mostly not on camera). The chives and oregano are planted in old repurposed chicken containers, the kind you get when you pick up a whole rotisserie chicken. They make awesome greenhouses! The oregano got their start in a repurposed Chinese take out container (black bottom, clear plastic domed lid). All three are looking quite good, although the oregano are still itsy bitsy.

On February 21st, I started getting serious. I'll admit, my earlier planting was done not for the purposes of starting something for the garden, but just out of sheer desperation to get my darn hands dirty! All this lovely weather, days in the low 50s, and I can't trust it to stay warm enough to start making outdoor stuff. There's still freezing weather and snow in the forecast.

Well, on the 21st my garden calendar popped up and told me it was time to start my tomatoes indoors. I used pellet pucks of dirt that were given to me for my birthday (having a birthday during seed catalog time is GREAT), which I soaked until they were all puffed up. Then I put them into egg carton bottoms to hold them firmly. In one egg carton I planted 12 San Marzano (roma) tomatoes. In another I planted Beefsteak (a meaty slicer). Then, in the little plastic berry bins you see in the top right of the picture, I planted the cherry tomatoes. So I will end up with (with luck) 12 roma plants, 12 slicer plants, and 10 cherry plants.

My garden plans call for ten each of the roma and slicer tomatoes, and three of the cherries, but I figured there's always a chance I'll lose some between then and now, and if I don't, I'm morally certain I'll find a place to put a couple of extra plants. Oh, and those extra six cherries? They belong to the 6 year old girl twin who has her OWN garden this year. She has a whole PLAN. Heh...