In my last post on 4 March, I started the new homegrown vegetable season by sowing tomato seeds. I planted 3 tomato varieties in 9 little pots and left them to germinate. Since frost might still strike this region anytime between March and May, the future seedlings would have to sit on my veranda until the temperature becomes more stable and stays at around the twenties, which is likely to be from mid May onwards. The veranda is definitely warmer than the outdoor, but temperature currently still varies between low teens to mid-teens.
14 days later, on 18 March, I noticed a little something green popped out from one of the little pots. The little fragile plant looked like one of the multitude weeds found in the garden but I wasn’t sure. Instead of plucking it out, I let it be in case it was actually a tomato seedling.
My suspicion was confirmed a few days later. Little sprouts with long, slim oval shaped leaves appeared next to the first finding. Not just one tiny sprout but five in a pot! It was a pot sown with one of the two tomato varieties that my mother-in-law gave us. Looking at the weed and the real thing, it struck me that I should have known! I should have remembered the shape of that baby tomato plants.
There were two other pots with tiny, weeny sprouts. Hopefully, the rest would show their heads soon.
In the following week, more shoots appeared in all pots but one. I almost gave up hope on the last pot until two or three days ago. It was just a late starter! Not bad. 100% rate for the first phase of my homegrown tomatoes starting from scratch…well, seeds. Actually, it was not really from scratch since I did not do the seeding myself. This year, if everything goes well with my harvest, I will collect the seeds and save it for next year!
The germination is too successful. I think every single seed that I sowed have germinated. As a result, there is a situation of overcrowding. There are actually 15 seedlings in the first batch. Since these seedlings will have to stay on veranda for at least one and a half months more, I will have to separate the seedlings by transferring each of them into a separate container so that each one can have enough space to develop the roots. Looking at how fast the tomato seedlings are growing, the second step will have to be done in the coming week.
More updates soon!
