It has been 23 days today since I put my very first tomato seeds in pots. I planted 5 different kinds of tomatoes: Big Rainbow (makes large 2 lb multi-colored red, yellow and green tomatoes), Tomato Pineapple (large 2 lb beefsteak, yellow gold, fewer seeds), Tomato Costoluto Genovese, (Italian heirloom, great for sauces and pastes), Tomato Cherokee Purple (believed to have originated in the Cherokee Nation in Tennessee more than a century ago, deep violet color, intense flavor), and finally Tomato Ildi (a yellow grape tomato with reportedly up to75 tomatoes in every bunch). I planted 4 pots of each variety, with 2 to 3 seeds in each pot. Because I am an extremely loving plant parent...and possibly because I am an obsessive and neurotic dork...I wake up every morning and check these little pots of soil and seed first thing. Much to my surprise, my eagerness was promptly rewarded by all of the first 4 types of tomatoes. Big Rainbow, Pineapple, Genovese, and Purple Cherokee all politely came up with in 5 days or so. However, the fifth variety, Ildi Yellow Grape has been (BIG SIGH), let's just say, not quite as motivated in it's struggle upward. Almost every day, without fail, I have woken to find some progress in my little tray garden, but from Ildi I have mostly seen a lot of this.
A little of this,
and even quite a bit of this.
Truthfully though, I have learned a lot and have been pleasantly surprised by many aspects of the seed starting process. When I first began this little adventure I envisioned this perfect little tray of plants. All in uniform rows. All neatly the same height, size and color. How wonderful a reminder this experience has been for me that the perfection of things is very often found in imperfections, oddities, and irregularities. It is not the uniform items that we create in plastic molds and line up in rows on department store shelves that makes us interesting, and it seems it is the same with plants. Through my in depth investigation into the habits and early lives of plants I have uncovered some shocking information. You may want to sit down for this. Seriously, make some coffee or tea and sit a spell. OK...are you ready for this? Prepare yourself. Find your zen place. Take as many deep breaths as you need. Here it goes. It turns out, not only do all plants not sprout at the same rate, but they also do not grow at the same rate either. Nasturtiums for example come out like gangbusters with leaves which are quite giant by comparison to alot of the other sprouts I am growing. They also grow much faster and are much taller than the average tomato plant at the same age. This is important in a practical sense because the nasturtiums have practically required their own grow light from the start. You have to keep the grow lights directly above them for them to grow properly. If the grow lights are an inch above the nasturtiums, but 3 inches above the tomato plant then you may have an issue because your tomato plants can become "leggy". I have not experienced "leggy" plants (At least I hope I am not experiencing them and just don't know it) but from what I gather this is a very undesirable condition where the plant becomes tall and lanky too quickly, instead of filling out properly at a nice even rate.
Back to Ildi. So one day about a week and a half ago, I woke up and finally found a tiny little sprout with a tiny little seed casing covering it's top in one of my Ildi pots. I was so excited, and thought for sure that I was at least going to get one plant from the four I had planted. Then the next week or so passed and nothing happened. Well, lots of things happened actually, but nothing from Ildi. In a week and a half there were no visible changes to my lone little Ildi sprout, and there were no new Ildi sprouts. The tiny little seed casing didn't even come off. No leaves sprouted out. Nothing. So then, I thought they must be duds for sure. You can see how Ildi has been tossing me around over here. I feel so taken for granted. My husband, Mississippi Rob said he thought they were done for as well, but I kept watering them and opening the curtains for them to give them their share of the sun, because after all I have very little idea about what I am doing. I have to keep reminding myself of that :) Still I had begun mentally preparing myself for the possibility that I would not be getting any grape tomatoes from these plants. Sadness ensued, but I was strong. I would survive this, and go on to become the most famous yellow grape tomato farmer in the history of the south, maybe the world. I would at least try to plant a couple more pots of them. I mean, I already have the seed. Why not? This might be my first garden, but it isn't my first rodeo. Well actually it would be my first rodeo, if this were a rodeo, but it's just a blog. My first blog actually. How am I doing? A little rambley you say? Rambley isn't a word you say??? Hold up! Back to Ildi! Wait a cotton pickin' minute...is that...
Focus please... and zoom in a bit will ya'...
Well hello Ildi! So nice you could finally join us :)
I was so excited to see my little late sprout finally join the party, and Ildi's arrival is a great reminder to me not to give up. A lesson that I struggle with. I don't like to be bad at things. I never have. I have
always had a terrible tendency to quit things that I feel I am not good at or am afraid may lead to a failure. As I have gotten older and am starting to get some of my fear issues under control I realize what a cop out this truly is, and how much I must have missed for not seeing things to fruition. It is very important to realize that you don't know what you don't know. This may sound silly, but I think it is an issue a lot of folks struggle with. I think when you try to act like you know about something that you don't really know about, then you are shutting yourself off to learning about that thing. Life is for learning and it is ongoing. Learning never stops unless you make it stop and you never get so old that you can't learn something new. I at least hope I don't. The fruits of our labor do not always arrive quickly or easily. Our blessings do not always come in the packages we think we need, want or might expect, but in my opinion they do come, and regularly. You just have to know how to recognize them.
Here are some more pictures of my mini herbs and tomato plants for your enjoyment. Aren't they adorable???
Don't you totally feel like you are in the most beautiful container garden...
which is being grown and maintained by the most wonderful yogurt loving, conservationist elf on the planet???
That's me :) I'm that elf. I love yogurt. I try to recycle plastic where ever I can. I just discovered I
love green things.
Welcome to my little garden. Help me watch it grow :)
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