It’s been 4 weeks since the sowing of my first tomato seeds.
50 seeds went into a variety of flower pots, grow pots and peat pellets.
I now have half that number, 25. Having got a bit carried away with the hatching I have now got a bit better at the dispatching.
From the original batch sown on 16 March I now have the following as single seedlings in 7.6cm or 10cm pots :
- 3 x Alicante. Seedlings are 6 cm in height and have between 2-6 true leaves
- 3 x Black Cherry. Seedlings are 6-8 cm in height and have 4 true leaves.
- 3 x Carbon. Seedlings are 6 cm in height and have 2 true leaves.
- 3 x Moneymaker. Seedlings are 9-10 cm in height and have between 4-6 true leaves.
- 3 x Red Robin. Seedlings are 4 cm in height and have 2 true leaves.
- 4 x Sungold. Seedlings are 8-9 cm in height and have between 5-7 true leaves.
- 3 x Tigerella. Seedlings are 5-7 cm in height and have 4 true leaves.
- 3 x Tumbler. Seedlings are 8 -10 cm in height and have between 7-9 true leaves.
They are sat in a light position in front of a bay window .There has not been a great deal of direct sun due to the weather and it’s only today that I think they may need watering as the compost has seemed moist enough till now.
From the 2nd sowing which was made on the 31st March and was 20 seeds in peat pellets I now have the following, still in the peat pellets:
- 3 x Carbon. Seedlings are 4-5cm in height and have seed leaves.
- 3 x Gardeners Delight. Seedlings are 4-5cm in height and have seed leaves
From the 3rd sowing which was made on the 3rd April and was 10 seeds in quarter (20cm) seed tray and 9 seeds in peat pellets I now have the following:
- 5 x Red Robin. Seedlings are 2cm in height and have seed leaves. They’re still in the seed tray.
I also have the 4th sowing. The Easter weekend seeds.
- 5 x Garden Pearl in a 10cm flower pot.
- 5 x Tumbler in a quarter ( 20cm) seed tray.
3 days in and whatever miracles mysterious Mother Nature performs to turn seed into plant are hopefully happening beneath the surface.
Seedlings Anonymous
Yes that could be the self help group I need to join! But it is also a reference to 24 seedlings which can’t be named because I – to name and shame myself – didn’t label them properly and so now I don’t know which is which. There are some from each of the three sowings so they will now be referred to as the Lucky Dippers.
In all the advice I’ve taken on board, labelling is emphasized again and again. It’s one of the simplest seed sowing tasks ! And yet…..I can only hope the reason it gets highlighted is that the advice dispensers have, on at least one occasion, got their own labelling wrong and want to warn others not to make the same mistake.
However it would seem that just like growing your own tomatoes there’s nothing quite like making your own mistakes!
A sentiment that is likely to become the first and much repeated tenet of my tomato growing experience.
Do you have a ‘I can’t believe I was so stupid‘ mistake that you’ve made when sowing tomato seeds or growing tomato plants ?
