The First Transplants of 2011

You will remember I blogged a few weeks back on planting my wave petunia and tomato seeds.  Then a week later I showed you the resulting but very spindly little seedlings.  Well the time has arrived where they have outgrown their little 288 homes and need to be transplanted into 4 packs, 12 to a tray.

And that is precisely what I did yesterday afternoon.  It was a glorious spring-like day.  The greenhouse was hot, and pleasant for working in.  I took my three trays of seedlings from their basement abode, transplanted them into new trays and then took the whole works back to the basement for another few weeks, until the weather warms enough to not have frost in the greenhouse at night.

The greenhouse was kind of a mucky mess, as the snow is melting on the slope behind it and draining directly into it.  Also, because daytime temperatures have been elevated in the greenhouse most of the winter, the frost is out of the ground inside already.  But it was so nice just to be able to slop around in shoes and a sweatshire, and enjoy spring weather, outdoors (well in an indoor sort of way!). 

These are two of the 288 flats with their very well grown little seedlings, ready to move to new homes.  Note in photo one there is a large gap - a variety of wave petunia with no germination at all.

In the photo to the left, note the very straggly, leggy tomatoes as the bottom.  Never fear these will be sturdy little plants in a few short weeks.

Getting ready.  New tray, 4 packs, and a pail of soil-less potting mix

4 packs filled with potting mix, ready to receive little plants

Here is a tray freshly transplanted and gently watered.  I will put the clear cover back on for a few days, just to keep the moisture level up.  No matter how careful you are with the plant plugs they need a lot of moisture, to recover from the transplanting trauma.

Everybody is back in their basement home for the next few weeks.  You will note that three 288 trays expanded into 9 trays of 48's (don't do the math, there were a lot of no shows during germination).  I also planted two more trays (with covers) - more petunias (tidal waves) and tomatoes, parsley, and a few other annuals.

The next venture is to start slipping the plants that I kept over winter.  But that is another whole blog in itself.

And that is about all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.