Tomatoes and Cucurbits

The tomatoes are bursting out of their pots, the Luffa is large and rough, and a few squash seedlings are ready to be transplanted from starting mix into soil.

Experimental results:

Tomatoes started in seed starting mix are far smaller than those started in potting soil (2" compared to 5"). They are ready to be fertilized, to be sure, but I also think the tomatoes that were started directly in potting soil (Miracle Gro Moisture Control) were accessing the fertility in the soil right from the beginning. I am going to pot up all the starts today. For the larger tomato starts in the 4" pots I may just have to thin to one plant per pot (as opposed to 4-5 that are in each one now), rather than prick them out--they're just not seedlings anymore, and the potting soil (in particular this moisture control stuff) doesn't look like it's going to come apart as easily as the light, loose seed starting mix.

Luffa had a very low germination rate, only one pot had more than one come up. The tomatoes had a very good germination rate--I think almost every one came up.

Chard seedlings are coming along very slowly. I'm keeping them off the heat pad and starting to harden them off.