Plant Progress...

I am really enjoying my new hobby of starting plants indoors.  I have been really pleased with how they've all grown.  I've had very few failures this year in the seed starting realm.

I am especially impressed with tomatoes, peppers, marigolds and petunias.  I think I may have started the tomatoes and peppers a little too early because they are already pretty large.  We still have 3 more weeks until the earliest I'd feel safe planting them outside without protection.

Also, I *might* have a problem, I feel like I should say something along the lines of "Hello, my name is Julie and I am a seed-starting addict."  I have 85 tomato plants and 65 peppers (that is just two kinds of plants, not counting the other 15 things I've planted in smaller quantities.  I just kept planting a dozen of each variety that sounded good thinking some wouldn't come up, but they all did and they all thrived.  So I will have a few to sell and lots to give away.  It would be nice if I could cover the costs of the seeds and potting soil by selling a few of the extras.

I edited and rotated these next 2 pictures and they appear fine in my files, but they won't upload right so you might have to tilt your head! lol  If anyone has a clue on how I can change this issue I'd love a comment about it.:) I've tried rotating it in my files every which way and uploading every version of it and it still presents this way when it gets uploaded.  Sheesh!

This pepper is about 10" tall from the top of the soil level to the top of the plant!

This tomato is about 14" from the top of soil level to the top of plant!  They are stocky and strong stems so far and I hope they continue to grow well for a few more weeks in pots.

This one ended up about 18" tall from top of soil level to top of plant!  We've been pinching off blooms for 2 weeks now hoping they hold off on the fruiting process until they are established in the ground.

These are some of the largest ones but there are many more about the same size, most are much smaller because they were planted later than the above ones.  I am not worried about the smaller ones catching up and being productive because many times when buying plants from the store the smaller ones outgrow the bigger ones that have been in pots longer.  I have hope for the little guys.

I was so excited to see this little beauty when I was watering this morning!  My very first home-grown petunia plant that is blooming!  I planted a red, white, and blue mixture of wave type petunias and some traditional red petunias.  I am pretty sure this is the traditional kind.

I have to say petunia seeds are the most expensive seeds I've ever bought!  I think it was at least $4.50 for a packet of 15 itty-bitty, teensie-weensie seeds (like 1/4 the size of 1 poppy seed like you'd see in muffins).  They all came up really well and I will definitely grow petunias again next year except way more to fill up all the areas in the flowerbeds.  I might have to start saving $ now to afford them!  This is still a good savings over buying 6 packs of wave petunias locally.  If I remember right, last year I paid about $5 or more on sale per 6 pack or $2.50 per plant if bought in a 3" pot which would be about $.83 to $2.50  per plant.  I ended up with 13-14 plants from 15 seeds which means approx $.34 per plant.  I will pay attention the next time I go browsing plants for wave petunia prices to double check my numbers.  The regular petunias are much more affordable but they don't cover near the amount of ground like the wave ones do.

Here are all the wave petunias, they how grown considerably beings when they first spout we almost needed a magnifying glass to see them with the naked eye! 

I have to say though we are soooo ready for spring planting time and the last frost to pass because taking that many flats and pots of plants out each day for sun and in each night for frost protection is getting pretty old.  We will certainly be celebrating when that is done for the year and we can enjoy them outside doing their thing producing pretty flowers and delicious fruits and veggies.  

It will get a little worse before it gets better though.  We have to start all the squash, melons, and later crops for a couple week head start compared to direct seeding in a couple weeks.  We can do it, just a few more weeks of the plant parade in and out each day!

Thanks for coming along on the tour of how the plants are growing around here.