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Friday, April 24, 2009

Tomato tricks

My story today about the growing interest in vegetable gardening included a simple trick to give your tomato seedlings an early boost before they go outside. Jeff Clarke of Camden Children's Garden shared this in the workshop I attended last week: Go ahead and buy your seedlings now. It's not a great idea to put them in the ground yet, even though weekend temperatures will be in the upper 80's. As Jeff explained, it's the temperature of the soil that matters, not the air. The soil is still too chilly for tomatoes.

Jeff cuts the top off a plastic soda bottle - or, in this case, a seltzer bottle - fills it with potting medium and puts his seedling in there. Set it in a sunny window and water it to keep it damp. The space in the bottle will soon be filled with roots. When you finally do plant, your roots will be much farther along than if you'd just bought a seedling in one of those tiny pots. 

Such a simple, inexpensive idea. See - talking to other gardeners really pays off!  And there's nothing we like better than free advice.
Posted by virginia smith @ 11:35 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Virginia A. Smith
Ginny Smith, a Philadelphia native, worked as a reporter at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Ohio – with six short months at the end of the Bulletin tossed in – before returning to Philadelphia in 1985 to join the Inquirer. Her favorite beats here have included Center City, roving around Pennsylvania (and getting paid for it!) and alternative medicine. She’s also been City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor. Ginny has been happily writing – and learning - about gardening fulltime since 2006. She’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association and in 2011, Bartram’s Garden honored her with its Green Exemplar award for her stories about “the region’s deeply rooted horticultural history, cultural attractions and bountiful gardens.”
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