Tomatoes whittled down to 27

The Chadwick Cherry tomatoes were 7 inches tall when I transplanted them.

Good thing I have plastic on the floor of the greenhouse to catch the dirt!

Some of the transplanted tomatoes.

Some of the transplanted tomatoes.

Some of the transplanted tomatoes.

The lights are about 6-8 inches from the tomatoes.

For the time being, the greenhouse floor is dirt free.

The lettuce after I transplanted it.

The dirt finally thawed and I was able to repot the tomatoes. And the lettuce. The tallest of the tomatoes, the organic Chadwick Cherry variety, were close to 7 inches tall. Most were probably closer to 3 to 4 inches tall, and some even had what I consider really thick stems, which is good, right? I seem to remember that last time I tried starting tomatoes indoors most of the stems ended up really thin, and they didn’t do as well once I transplanted them outdoors. So I’m thinking thick is a good thing in this case.

Because I planted pretty much the entire seed packet of each variety, I had quite a few to choose from when repotting. I’m starting out with three food-safe, 5-gallon containers, each with three smaller peat pots in them. And each of those peat pots have the three of the healthiest looking tomato plants in them. I know what you’re probably thinking right now: Are you really going to have room in your greenhouse for that many full-grown tomatoes? No, my plan isn’t to try to grow 27 tomato plants. Rather, I’m hoping that five or six of them will stand out as the heartiest and most likely to bear fruit. Once they get big enough for their own container, I’ll buy three more 5-gallon pails and keep the best six plants.

I also purchased a 48-inch utility light system that can take both T8 or T12 lamps. I bought the 40-watt Gro-Lux bulbs to go with it. It gives off a heckuva lot more light than the tiny grow light I had been using above the smaller pots! To get the light hanging over the pails, I ended up taking a few of the shelves and poles out of the smaller, four-shelf greenhouse I had been using. Then I lined up the pails and hung the light using some of the top supports of the greenhouse. So far, so good. Nothing has crashed to the ground or on top of the tomatoes.

The next thing I need to look at it is whether I should be adding any nutrients like nitrogen to the soil. And how to go about pollinating the plants once they start flowering. I’m thinking an electric toothbrush, but I want to do a little bit more research. Looks like I’ve got my homework cut out for me this week!