Baby Salsa II or In The Garden - January 28

Winter has finally come to Utah, but my garden is growing pretty well all the same.  I posted about my newborn tomato plants on January 17.  They've done much growing since then.  They've developed their first set of new leaves and today, were ready to each move out of the nursery pot and into their own home.

Getting pretty crowded in there!  Only eight of the eleven plants that originally sprouted were really worthy to move on to bigger pots.  The best of the best, as it were.  After scrubbing and bleaching the four-packs that I'd saved from last year, I moved the little plants, one by one, into fresh soil in a four-pack.  That step always makes me a bit nervous as there is so much that can go wrong.  Crushing or bruising the stem can  kill a plant that tiny.  Fortunately, I think all of them made it this time.  *crosses fingers*

Here they are, getting used to their new digs, so to speak.  I will probably need to repot them into bigger pots at least once, perhaps twice, before they go out into the garden in Walls O' Water around April 1.

While I had the potting soil out, I started Genovese basil, tomatillos, and a small, ornamental grass called Lagurus ovatus.  I'm hoping to use it in the barrels and pots instead of buying the expensive, already grown versions.

I've got the heat mat plugged in so that the seeds will germinate a bit faster.  It also seems to help the growth of the little starts at this early stage.  I moved the lights up out of the way so that I could get a photo, but usually the lights hang about an inch above the little leaves.