tomato day!!!!!!

good morning folks!!!

garden at 8 am on tomato day 2011.

finally, after weeks and weeks of waiting, today is the day!! the tomatoes are going in the garden!! can you tell i'm just a little bit excited. and yet, i'm still worrying about the tiny size of my little babies. although, i have seen a remarkable difference in their growth over the last few days out in the sunshine. plus i read this website about tomatoes where the author clearly states that, "smaller transplants that are healthy and in the proper growth phase will outproduce larger transplants 2 to 1 or even more."

say what??!!??

"Tomatoes go through several phases of growth from the initial soft stem seedling to a rapid growth phase and then to a reproductive phase. If you set out transplants that are already in the reproductive phase, they don't grow as large or set as many flowers as the smaller plants. By comparison, the smaller plants will go through a rapid growth phase where the plant produces vigorous leaves and stems before it sets blossoms. The result is a much bigger plant that keeps expanding as it supports an increasing fruit load."

"The tomato growers mantra should be Small But Healthy!"

oh, thank goodness!!! there is still hope or my tomatoes. not to mention, i've peeked at the surrounding backyards, and everyone's tomatoes clearly have a head start over mine (i saw one with a small green tomato on it already!!). so, i'm still hoping that my theory of the squirrels congregating in their yards for early tomato feasting will render them bored of tomatoes long before mine start producing. one can only hope.

tomato area ready for the transplants!!

in other garden news, the foliage on the potatoes are growing like mad. even if they don't produce many potatoes (or even any at all), i must say they are nice to look at and add a pretty cool flair to the  garden.

so now this morning, i'm just waiting for the sun to finish coming out, and the temperature to warm up a bit before heading out for a full day in the garden. happy planting everyone!!!