Seedlings In The House

I promised myself to be tougher with self-sown seedlings this year.  Last year we returned from vacation to discover plenty of tomato seedlings in the vegetable garden.  They were very healthy too, so I dug some up and either gave them to colleagues or replanted them in my neighbor’s garden.  I let some of them grow and that posted a big problem.  They took over the garden.  I have a solid plan this year: only the seedlings I started in the house will have their space in the garden.

I settled with twelve seedlings for each tomato: Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple, White Tomesol, Rose, Aunt Gertie’s Gold and grape tomatoes.   They came up four days after I put them in the coconut planting medium.   I waited for the tomatoes to produce true leaves, the second set of leaves, before I put them in individual pots.  I know there will be seedlings from our compost corner and I use them so I didn’t start any cherry tomatoes.

The chili peppers have taken a little bit longer to germinate.  I’m growing a few more varieties this year: Bhut Jolokia, Congo Trinidad, Chocolate Habanero, Caribbean Red, Sikkim chili, Lemon Drop, Purira, Punjab, Nepalese Bell (a colleague gave me fresh seeds), Karen (Golden Triangle tribe)chili, Bird Dropping (smallest Thai chili), medium Thai chili, and Long Thai chili.  They are very slow to grow since I didn’t use a heating pad this year and the only light they get is through the living room bay window.

If I’m home on the day the temperature has gone up above 60°F, I would take them outside to get real sunlight and harden them up a bit.  I hope to be able to put them in the garden in the middle of the month.