Tomatoes and more!

Ok, it's just the plants. I got all of them transplanted this morning into larger containers. They were begging for water once a day in their small 9 ounce cups. I used two liter soda bottles prepared the same way I did the wintersown containers. I simply cut the top off the bottle instead of cutting it in half.





I repotted them really deep. They should grow new roots all along the buried stem. This will make their transition to the garden a lot easier. They should be stronger, healthier plants too.



Once they were all done, I put them in the shade of the truck again for the day to let them have a little fresh air. Tomorrow, they will go out into the hoophouse. The plan is to leave them there until I plant them out. There are 46 containers. Three have unknown varieties. Tags, who needs em?



I added a little more soil to the cherry tomatoes in the basement. The brown berry cherry containers did not sprout. That's okay. I have 11 other varieties.



The Yvonne's Salvia got transplanted into 20 ounce cups. Nine containers made it out of the eleven I started with.



The petunias started indoors need to be redivided tomorrow. More seeds have germinated since I potted these.



The ones in the hoophouse that were wintersown are much smaller. I baked one pan by leaving the cover on it last week when it reached 82 degrees. I thought they were in the shade of the sheet that was covering the tomatoes.



Out in the hoophouse, the hardwood cuttings of mock orange, lavender crape myrtles, forsythia, and redtwig dogwoods are leafing out. The redtwigs are putting out lots of roots. I haven't checked the others in a week when there were still no roots. I added fig cuttings this past week to see if I could increase my percentages and create hardier plants. Two of more than a dozen fig cuttings lived.





There are lots of sprouts in the "Black Knight" buddleia collected from a friend's mother's house in Virginia. The cuttings didn't fair so well. Hopefully the seeds will do better since they were wintersown.



Outside in the garden, the ginger lilies are coming back.



The Kleim's Hardy Gardenia is toast.



This red hot poker should bloom. The plants in the foreground are the common dayflower (Commelina communis)



The Japanese Maple is begging for a hard frost to destroy its leaves.



A volunteer buddleia that I moved to the perennial bed is putting out new growth. I hope it reaches 3-4' this year.



The plum tree is ready to bloom.



PEONIES!!!!!



More Hostas



And finally, the English Ivy slips that I stuck in water with a willow cutting are ready to be potted. I've also got pennyroyal in the kitchen window and pineapple sages in the cloner that need to be moved to dirt.



And of course, I bought more seeds when I went to Wal-Mart with the family. My dad brought me three 55 gallon plastic drums to use as rain barrels. I just need to get the fittings and level a spot at the corner of the house. I want to try to cut down on my water bill this year. I'm thinking of making a compost tumbler from one of them.

Oh, and the lawnmower is back and has been repaired. Tomorrow will be an outdoor day.