Repotting Tomato Seedlings

About a month after I started my tomato seeds the seedlings have outgrown their shared yogurt containers and need to be transplanted to their own separate homes for the rest of their indoor growing life. I had to very carefully separate each little tomato seedling, untangle their tiny roots, and re-pot them to grow big and strong.

 

I did this about 20 more times until all of my seedlings had enough legroom to continue their journey to be adult plants.

 I admire the resilience of these little tomato plants. A cotyledon trying to shove the seed coat off.

 In about a month these little babies might be ready to grow outside as long as we don't have any more freak Brooklyn hail/snow storms. Fingers crossed!

Thanks boo for photo help!

Plant Propagation

Plants are amazing. Each plant cell has a complete set of that plant's DNA which allows ANY part of the plant to become a new root, stem, or leaf. When a plant is injured it begins to form callus cells to cover the wound. Once the callus cells sufficiently cover the wound they then start to decide what part of the plant they need to become: a root, stem, or leaf. This amazing trait is what plant propagation is all about, making a lot of plants from one plant. Most plants can easily be propagated from stem and root tissue, but some plants can sprout new plants from a single leaf. Succulents are one type of plant that can be propagated this way so I took a single leaf from a Graptoveria plant and laid it on the surface of a container filled with turfis and waited. About a month later this happened!

 

Hot pink roots and a whole new plant is starting to emerge at the tip of this leaf! 

 

Amazing.

Hungry Hungry Hello

Seems like my cat Hello also enjoys my terrarium very much!

Tomato Seeds

I started my tomato seeds back in February and now I have 21 healthy tomato seedlings! I'll show you how I started them and where they are now. First, it's important to use a germination mix instead of normal potting soil when starting seeds because you want a medium that is easy for young roots to push through. I used Johnny's Organic 512 Mix which contains 1/2" screened blend of sphagnum (brown) and sedge (black) peat mosses, compost, and perlite. The sphagnum moss holds moisture for the young plant, the compost adds nutrients, and the perlite aerates the soil so that young roots can move through it. The first step in starting seed germination is to make sure that you wet your germination mix well.

 

The way to tell if your germination mix is sufficiently wet, hold a clump in your hand and if it stays put then you've got enough moisture in it to start the seeds.

 

For two weeks I saved yogurt containers to use as pots because they are free and the perfect size for small tomato seedlings. You can recycle any plastic container as long as it is food safe because you wouldn't want any toxins in your tomato plants since you are going to eventually eat them. Be sure to thoroughly sterilize your containers before you put seeds in them too. If there aren't holes in the bottom of your container make sure you poke enough for water to easily drain out.

 

Next fill your container with the moist germination mix and tap it on a flat surface to release any air bubbles that may be trapped in the container.

 

Now you are ready for the seeds! You should make a hole in the germination mix that is three times the size of the seed and then lightly cover it. I put two in each container for the time being and then when they get too big to share the container I'll split them up. 

 

Seeds wait for the most optimal situation to finally germinate because they only have one shot. You can facilitate their germination by giving them an even, warm temperature which signals to the seeds that it is spring and time to start growing. Until little green shoots appear, the seeds do not need sunlight so don't worry about putting them near a window until then. I put my seeds in a plastic lasagna dish which created a small greenhouse and kept them above the refrigerator which created ample heat to mimic the warm spring soil. 

 

And then 12 days later look what happened!

 

These are the cotyledons, not the true plant leaves. The seed shot them up above ground to start absorbing sunlight to produce energy. At this point the seedling needs as much sunlight as it can get, at least 16 hours, which is a scary amount of light when you have a north facing Brooklyn apartment and it's the beginning of March. So to combat my apartment's lack of direct sunlight I decided to bring my seedlings to work where I have a west facing window on the 8th floor which gets a ton of light. My seedlings seemed to like these conditions better! Here they are at 19 days with true leaves starting to form.

 So, technically a tomato seedling grows in Manhattan, but I promise come spring the plants will be outside in the lovely Brooklyn air.

Thanks to my lovely boyfriend for photo help!

March Madness

March is maddening. We are supposed to be in the "lamb" part of the month since it is officially spring. Alas, we got flurries in New York today. At least we didn't have a major blizzard like earlier this year. Below is my parents front yard in Connecticut.

I'm ready for spring.

Terrariums!

Terrariums are a major trend lately which Brooklynites can't seem to get enough of! I've seen them at many fleas, fairs, and garden shops around the borough and decided to take a class at Sprout in Williamsburg to see if I could make my own. My friend Annie joined me and this is how we did it:

We each chose our containers, mine is on the left and Annie's is on the right. Glass containers are a must since light has to be able to penetrate the container. The larger the opening the easier it is to place and arrange your plants so make sure your hand can fit in the container's opening. There are two types of terrariums that you can make: an open one, which we chose to do, or a covered one which creates a humid environment for moisture-loving plants. Either options are great for apartments because they don't require direct sunlight.

Since terrariums don't have drainage holes it is very important to add a layer of rocks which will allow water to drain from the soil and prevent any damage to the plant's roots.

Next, add a layer of charcoal which will keep the soil fresh and prevent any unwanted odors.

Then add a layer of sand which will also help with drainage and is light enough for young roots to move through it. You can also add larger rocks for aesthetics.

The final layer is the soil mix which depends entirely on the plant you chose. Succulents and cacti get a rockier/sandier mixture while other herbaceous plants get a normal potting soil. Then comes the fun part: landscaping! Some birch bark for texture...

...dehydrated moss and a little path of smaller rocks...

...and a bull! Why not?

A detail of Annie's. She used where we go hiking in the summer as an inspiration and it's dead on.

The final product!

Check out Sprout in Brooklyn and Chicago for more classes and ideas: Sprout

Solanum lycopersicum

Last year I had about four tomato plants that I bought from a garden center which yielded quite a tasty and hefty bounty. This year, I decided I wanted to step it up a notch and try to start my tomato plants from seeds. The varieties of tomatoes are endless, but I knew I wanted a determinate (or bush) variety (instead of vine) and it had to do well in containers since I am a backyard-less New Yorker. I flipped through my Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog, which is like Vogue for veggies, and selected an organic large heirloom variety called "Rose (Solanum lycopersicum)." I started the seeds about a month ago and will soon share how I did it and how the plants are doing now.

Check it out: Johnny's Selected Seeds