Homestead Garden: Tomato Starts

-


It may be rainy and cool lately here in the PNW but that has not stopped me from getting my garden going. ~smile~

About 10 days ago I got my tomato seeds started. Last year Tobin built me a little box. It has 3 sides and the front is open. He hung florescent lights in it on a chain so I can adjust the level of the lights. There is also plastic that hangs in the front of box so I can keep my plants warm. This sits on a counter in his shop and the shop can get pretty cool at night.

Right now I am beginning to see the start of the first two true leaves on my tomatoes. I suspect it won’t be long before it is time to replant them. Last year I replanted twice before it was time to put them in the ground, which is usually around Memorial Day weekend. I am praying that the weather here in my part of the world improves a great deal by then!!

Here is a picture of my babies :) ..



I have an article on my site written by a friend of mine, Jennifer Zeitz, that shares how to start seeds for your garden: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/readysetplantseedlings.htm
 

Comments

  1. RobinApril 10, 2011 at 1:30 PM

    I'm going to get mine started this week! Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmandaApril 10, 2011 at 3:11 PM

    Very cute :) You can check out all my seedlings I got started about 3 weeks ago! I will be starting more today once I can get more newspaper!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JessicaApril 11, 2011 at 5:46 PM

    I have always started my seeds inside, then two years I used miracle-grow seed starter and my seedlings wouldn't grow past the seed leaf stage and the stems turned purple. Utterly discouraging! Soil? Coincidence? I decided not to fuss with starting my own this year!

    ReplyDelete
  4. CrystalApril 11, 2011 at 7:14 PM

    Jessica.. I wonder if the problem is the miracle grow.. Maybe it was too strong in additives for the plants? Not sure, I have never used it.

    The only plants I start from seed now are tomatoes. I can't find roma tomato starts in the garden centers of the stores around here and I need them for spaghetti sauce and salsa that I can during the summer..

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this
Read more

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine to
Read more

Canning Beef Stew

-
Image
In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my
Read more