Tomatoe Seeds !!!

   Everybody who grows loves this day. I plugged in the Heating Mats, filled the trays with starter soil...and "let's get planting!"  96 seeds all together...lets see what we get for germination. I'm only figuring on about 25 -30 plants for myself. Give away about 40-50. I'd hate to kill the unwanted ones, but hey it is what it is.

 

I've had really good success with Tomatofest Seeds. Look forward to another season of funky fruits from these seeds.

 

 

 

 Blue Fruit seeds

 

 

I love this time of year. I get anxious and nervous with anticipation.

Making Amends

      Of course I had to call it this...today was the day I added nutrients to the soil. Let it break down of the next few weeks. I'm not sure if it was overkill, but I saw this video on Youtube awhile back and it kinda struck in my head. So for this season I'm gonna treat it as gospel and see what happens. Check it for yourself ( seems reasonable to me anyway ).

 

 

     Over the past few months I've put together what I needed Cottonseed Meal, Kelp Meal, Bone Meal and Fish Meal - all from Dr. Earth. I started things out by adding Peat Moss and Vermiculite...then loosely turned and raked the entire bed. ( Hoping to correct the Alkaline levels in the bed ). Then added all the nutrients....and raked and tilled them in. Will soil test again in about 4 weeks to see the progress ( Hoping to plant in 6 weeks or so ).

 

 

Various Meals pre-turned/tilled

 

 

Finish dressing on the bed. Cucumber trellis is done too.

     

Damage Control

     This week was lil interesting. I was noticing a lil problem with the Macro focus on me Samsung EX2F. So I contacted them and they issued me a repair ticket. I had to pay my own postage there. But here's how it went....(a) UPS it to NJ on Monday...(b) received and repaired on Tuesday...(c) return ship to me on Wed...(d)...in my hands on Thursday afternoon. So there you go! We all have our personal preferences, but hard to complain about customer service like that!

     During this time I double dug the garden bed ( double digging is digging 2 shovel depths deep ) and screened and loamed it. Last fall I layered the top of the bed with a couple of inches of cow manure from Wright's Dairy Farm...free for the taking, just bring your own shovel and buckets. After sifting thru and removing old weeds and root balls I added 250lbs of Coast of Maine - Lobster Compost. So...then bed is all turned and now onto the critter fence.

 

 ( nice bird bath huh? )





 

     Fencing is all made with 3/4 inch PVC piping cut and painted with Krylon Fusion paint. Last year I only put fencing on 3 sides ( figured the chain link was my 4th ). But watched daily at the end of the season as a chipmunk did the end around and robbed me of tomatoes. So this season it's 4 sided approx 30 inches high. Anything that can get in higher than 3 feet I wasn't gonna be able to stop anyway.

 

     Last year I SERIOUSLY underestimated how high my cucumbers would climb. I had them at over 7ft and was tying anything to the top of the chain link to hold them up. What a cluster fuck! So, now the back wall of my trellis is made of PVC that runs 7ft high...tomorrow we string the rope trellis netting across this structure and tie it off to the chain link.

 

 

     I also did a quick/cheap soil test. I know that until the soil warms up most of the fungi/bacterias  don't start really doing their thing. However the tests show that my soil is WAYYY Alkaline ( Green ) Nitrogen ( Pink ) is very low, Phosphorus ( Blue ) is low and Potash ( Orange ) is normal. 

  

  

 

       As it stands I was going to add Vermiculite and other additives ( all organic ). But to offset the Alkaline levels I am going to add Cottonseed Meal and Peat Moss as well. But hey, tomorrow is another day. Just glad I got my camera back for today.