Tomato Plants

 

The vegetable garden season at Roshara has officially begun.  The tomato seeds are planted and they are up and growing.  It’s hard to believe that these fragile little plants, only an inch or so tall, will, by mid-summer, be four feet tall and taller.  In my mind, as we plant the seeds, I see lush, big red, juicy tomatoes with a taste so much more special than the store-bought tomatoes.  Many of these. Store-bought tomatoes have traveled across the country to be in our grocery stores.

            Natasha, my daughter-in-law and head Roshara gardener, and I planted tomato seeds a couple of weeks ago.  Natasha commented on how tiny some of the tomato seeds were, some of them mere little brown specks. And how so much life could be stored in such a little package.  Such is one of the miracles of growing things from seed.

            My mother, head gardener when I was growing up, always planted tomato seeds on St. Patrick’s Day.  She said that was a green day and the right time to start seeds. She had no grow lights—we had no electricity—so she set the seed pots in a south-facing window in the kitchen.  And they flourished, year after year as I remember.

            I have a grow light, and it helps things along without doubt, especially on the many cloudy days of April.  Once the little tomato plants are a bit taller, we will transplant them to larger pots, and weather permitting, we will put them outside to “harden them in” before setting them out in our Roshara garden by late May.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Planting the first tomato seeds reminds us that spring  has arrived..

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To purchase Jerry’s books, Including Garden Wisdom: Lessons Learned From 60 Years of Gardening,  go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books, including my new ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.