The window sill is getting crowded

Spring is always crazy. The first seedlings have moved from the propagation boxes to the window sill.
Some have already had to move further. On to the decking outside, but where they are still protected from frost.

How is your spring planting/sowing going? Isn't it a marvellous time of the year?!
Crazy busy but wonderful.

Lunch

This morning - just before the heat hit - I picked a few tomatoes.
Lunch is secured.

Top left: 3 Jaune Flammee. Top right: 3 Grusha Chyorhaya
Bottom left: 1 Striped Turkish Monastery
The hardest thing now is to decide how to use them? Bruschetta? Thinly sliced on a platter with a little drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil? In a sandwich? Big bites out of the whole tomato? Oooohhh...the choice!

The babies have left the building

All spare tomato plants have gone to a very good home.

This is my final list. All planted and looking good. Quite a few of them have already set fruit.

Anna Russian 1
Amish Salad 1
Black Cherry 1
Black Krim 2
Cherokee Purple 1
Dixie Golden Giant 1
Green Giant 1
Grub's Mystery Green 2
Grusha Chyorhaya 2
Heinz 1370F 1
Huge Black 2
Ida Gold 10
Jaune Flammee 5
Julie's Uncle's Whopper 1
Kellogg's Breakfast 7
Lime Green Salad 1
Marianna's Peace 2
Moldovan Green 1
Olomovic 3
Orange Minsk 1
Oregon Spring 2
Polar Baby 1
Red Cloud 1
Soldacki 2
St. Pierre 1
Striped Turkish Monastery 1
Sub Arctic Plenty 2
Tasmanian Blushing Yellow 2
Woodle Orange 1
Total plants: 59
Varieties: 29

Ps.: This happens when I am disciplined. You should have seen the lists I had the previous years. Tomatoes Anonymous obviously helped! :)

Nearly there!

I have been planting tomatoes the last few days. Good thing I was very disciplined* when sowing them in late winter. So now I don't have to agonise where to put them all, and they ALL look so good, I'm sure I could find a spot for another one, etc... Not this year. *smug look on face*

40 plants in the ground. Only a few more of one tiny variety to go. Yeah! There are some spares, but I am not even tempted to put them in the ground. I have plenty.

*Yes. 40 IS restrained (or 50-60) and disciplined for me. I should end up with 50 plants or so in the ground. It might be more. But who's counting?

The 2 raised beds with tomatoes. The bed in the middle is the potato bed.

Polar Baby is already bearing fruit. Yippeaahhh!

A glimpse of the tomato beds in the midst of the jungle.

Triffids update

What's this strange clicking noise? And now? What's that?! Is that the sound of a whip-like tongue lashing out? Oh no, the triffids are coming closer...

Huh? Tomatoes?! Really?

I had to put some bricks at the corners so that the window pane can rest on them during the night.

The eggplants, chillies and capsicums in the other frame are growing nicely, too.

A close-up specially for neighbour gnome. :)

Look at that!

Remember the little experiment I started way back in May? I planted some self-sown tomato seedlings into my raised compost bed and put window panes over them to protect them from frost. Only 1 survived but it has now some tiny fruit on it. Look at that! Aren't they cute?
Let's see whether we'll get some ripe fruit off that plant. Wouldn't that be marvellous?

Building extensions

The tomatoes are growing like crazy. We had really lovely, sunny weather and they must have enjoyed that. The first ones reached the window pane on top of the cold frame.

So it was time to build on.

Let's see how long it will take until they reach the top. Unfortunately it won't be another 3 weeks or so until I can plant them out. We are still experiencing frosty mornings.

The eggplants, capsicums and chillies are in the new cold frame.
There are still some pieces of wood left over which is a good thing as I am sure I will have to build another layer for the frame soon.

Time to move!

The tomato seedlings had grown heaps since I repotted them. There was no way I could keep them on the window sill much longer.

Here they are, before the move, still enjoying the view. However the ones on the shelf below had to crouch and were not happy.

So, the last view of the whole lot, from outside.

Then a new home had to be built. A few hours later (this gnome is not a professional cold frame builder, so these things take a bit longer) the new home was ready.

One lot is already inside, the next lot is ready to go.

Ahh.... room to move, uh..grow.

Nighty night!

The little ones are getting bigger

...and starting to enjoy the view from the window sill.
Same planter box - different angle.
This is an assortment of tomato seedlings. There are way too many varieties and seedlings. But I'm sure we'll find a good home for them when the time comes.

Cold frame

Another experiment.

There were 3 very healthy, self-sown tomato seedlings in a big pot with an orange tree. I decided that the orange tree (it is still a seedling) needed some space and all the nutrients it could get and pulled out the tomatoes. Hmm...they were far too healthy to be dumped in the compost or thrown over the fence to feed the sheep and chooks. Oh well, why not put them in the cold frame and see what happens? I won't need the cold frame until late winter/early spring anyway.

The cold frame is part of a raised compost bed.

Close-up of tomatoes in the cold frame.

Good luck, little seedlings!