A Farmer, I'm Not

Last year a friend gave me a heritage tomato called a Bulls Heart. It's long like a Roma tomato but it's big and juicy and I really liked it.  He had indicated that I could save the seeds and grow my own this year. I looked on line and found out how to do that.  It's quite the procedure really, since tomato seeds have a gel coating on them that has to be dissolved first.

I followed the instructions and saved some seed, and this spring I planted them, half expecting they wouldn't germinate. But they did.  As far as I know they all did. The problem is, I put off planting them as I was waiting for a chance to get some soil. Then I found out it's better to plant them in a soil less mix, and I have pots full of that from previous plants I've brought home.  I dumped some of that into a lined basket and planted the seed in there. By then it was about a month later than they should have been growing.

Then I kept thinking I must transplant them into individual containers so they would have more room to grow. Once again, I wasn't doing the job when I should have been. They were growing long and leggy, but at least they were growing.  You can bury tomato plants part way up their stems if you like, and I did that when I finally got around to transplanting at least some of them. Oh yes, there are others still in the basket. I don't have room for them in the garden anyway, so if you have a spot for one, without a guarantee that there is even time to grow the thing to maturity, just say so.  First come, first served. Bring your own pot.

I still don't have the transplanted ones in my garden yet.  But at least they grew since I transplanted them, so they must be happy in their new environment.  At this point, I'm afraid that the very day I put one out in the garden some big rain storm will come and flatten the wee things down.  I would like a plant or two to actually produce at least one new tomato for me this year, so that I can try this again for next year. Hopefully I'll get my act in gear and do the planting and transplanting chores on time if given that second chance.

My store bought tomato plants in the garden, on the other hand, tripled in size this week with all the heat and rain.  Good thing they liked the weather as I have not been out to water them at all since the day I planted them. I'm no farmer, that's for sure.