Towering Tomatoes

This is the time of year when my seedlings seem to grow faster than I can pot them up.  Thankfully, the weather has been more pleasant making it enjoyable to work in the greenhouse.  More of my tomatoes and some jalapenos were ready for roomier digs so I whipped them out to the greenhouse for some repotting.  This is another batch of Brandywine Heirloom tomatoes, I have a total of nearly 30 of these going now.  And in the background my constant companion on any given day, ice tea.  There was a flash of a glass in my post about painting hydrangeas also.  You will, most likely, catch a glimpse of a tea filled glass in many of my photos.

Here are my Jalapeno plants, I love hot peppers!  I have a batch of Habanero’s growing too but I got some called Zavory that are supposed to be very mild so you can enjoy the Habanero flavor without frying your taste buds off.  As you can see, more than ready for some leg room. (or root room)

I start by putting a quarter inch of perlite in the bottom of the pot to help drainage.

Then a tad of my potting mix (compost, perlite and sand, I am still out of vermiculite), I don’t put much in yet as I want to plant my seedlings deeply. A nice healthy root ball on this one, it goes all the way down in the pot.

I fill it with potting mix up to the rim of the pot.  As you can see most of the stem is in the pot now, the plant will develop roots all along the stem under the potting mix making it a sturdier plant. 

They all get a shot of diluted seaweed water, and though they look a bit shell shocked here I can guarantee you in a day or so they will have shot up quite a bit.

Here is a great post on planting your tomatoes in the garden, she has quite the recipe to put in your planting hole before popping in your tomato plant.  She has 10 foot tall tomato plants so she must be doing something right!
http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/2011/04/repost-how-i-plant-a-tomato.html
Her recipe:
1.  A fish head (for slow release nitrogen and calcium).
2.  Two handfuls of Sustane 4-6-4 all purpose dry organic fertilizer.
3.  One handful of bone meal (for extra calcium and phosphorus).
4.  Three or four crushed chicken egg shells (for even more calcium).
5.  Two aspirin tablets (for added immunity to disease).
6.  A handful of worm castings (for all around good health).
7.  A tablespoon of humic acid (for stress help).
8.  A teaspoon of mychorrizal fungae sprinkled on the root ball.
For  spacing, depth, and some of the science behind this seeming madness, click through to her full blog post.
 
There are a few things starting to pop up in the greenhouse.  My Echinaceas for one.  I have red, yellow, orange and white ones coming up, they have names like Tomato Soup, Maui Sunshine, Fragrant Angel and Tiki Torch, how fun is that! You can’t start these from seed they are hybrids but they do put out little plantlets at the base you can separate off and pot up or plant around your yard.  I love them, they are hardy in this area.

And this little beauty is blooming away, this is Apple Blossom, a pelargonium or zonal geranium I started from seed last winter.  These are so easy to start from seed. 

I hope you have enjoyed your time in my greenhouse as much as I have!