Stunting the Tomatoes

The seedlings now have their second leaves, and are about 1 1/2 inches tall. I called our local greenhouse to check for sure whether they'd be growing Principe Borghese this year, and mentioned the seedlings. The helpful lady who came to the phone told me that I should start taking the flat outside daily in sunny weather, because even with the gooseneck lamp with its special "sunshine" bulb, the plants probably aren't getting quite enough through that east-facing window, and could do with some direct overhead sunlight. Apparently, when they don't get enough direct sunlight, they start to "reach", growing too tall and developing long, spindly stalks. Of course, they get brought in at night, because we'll still be having frosts in our area until about May 10.

Also, since the temperature in my house is in the high 60's, the cooler daytime temperatures outside will keep the plants from getting too large too soon and then not doing as well later. So I'm being advised to deliberately stunt my baby tomatoes--for their own good. We'll see how that goes. I did take them outside for a little while this afternoon, and when they came in, a few of them looked a tiny bit shell-shocked and wilty. Most of them recovered by nightfall. The cole crops--cabbage and broccoli--loved the cool weather exposure. They came in looking extremely chipper and not leaning over as much as they had been--they'd all been leaning east, in the direction of the window (which makes a great demonstration of tropism for my daughter's science class.)

I also wasn't aware that I didn't want them to get too large. I've always come home with 4 to 8-inch pots from the nursery before and transplanted those with no difficulty. Now the nursery tells me that when their tomatoes are ready to go home with customers, they'll likely be in 3-inch pots, and that tomatoes often don't do as well being transplanted if they get too big while still in the pots. I've never had a problem transplanting quite large tomato plants, but I don't mind if they stay a little smaller longer. They're easier to handle that way, and if they all got too big, there likely wouldn't be enough room and light for them in the house anyway. The greenhouse is just now starting their seeds, while mine were started mid-February. They're expecting their tomatoes to be ready May 15, which is right around the time I was supposed to transplant mine outside anyway, so it should work out just fine.

There's baby spinach in one of the garden boxes outside (from last fall's planting), still very tiny but already trying to grow. I found a live purple pansy blooming in the flower bed next to the kitchen, and the chives in the pot on the patio--the only herbs that survived last summer and winter--are looking nice and healthy despite the lack of water in the pot. Tough little things; I'll be sure to harvest some this year when they're big enough, and maybe I'll get a few more to help fill the whole pot with chives. Couldn't hurt, if they're that resilient!