My tomatoes are indeed spoilt right from the start and I have
always believed this care produces healthy plants that crop well and are
resistant to disease. They have the very
best sterile seed compost and I keep them moist but not too wet or dry, using a
fine mist spray. I line them up in front of a south facing
window but I move them away if the sunshine is very strong. I am keeping an eye on the weather and when the
seedlings have four or five leaves, I will carefully transport them to the
greenhouse, into a lidded propagator with bubble wrap on the top at night, just
to keep them toasty. I even talk to them
because I have always thought that the carbon di oxide and little breeze caused
by my breath, encourages their stems to grow stronger.
A month ago, Doc conditioned the raised beds with well
rotted compost and I covered them with cloches to help warm up the soil. Yesterday, having had some sunshine recently,
I wondered if any annual weeds had sprouted so I had a good look round and
there they were several little tomato seedlings, growing away quite happily
underneath one of the cloches.
The seeds were probably carried to the compost bin via the
kitchen waste bucket and have been nestled in chicken poo, straw and all manner
of green and brown material for about 9 months.
Doc was very proud that the compost heap was quite hot at several stages
throughout the process last year. Doc
always sieves the compost and the tomato seeds even survived that too.
I have hard evidence that there is a ‘survival of the fittest’
and it is remarkable how nature will take care of itself. However, I am wondering why I bother germinating
seeds in the house. Maybe I should just
scatter seeds in the compost bin and wait and see what happens. I am not that brave though and I have already
transplanted the ‘wild’ tomato seedlings into pots and put them in the
greenhouse!
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