HOLY CRAP! There's some kind of plant conspiracy going on out in the shop. None of the seeds I planted bothered to read the germination times on the packages they came in. I've got dozens of plants up already, most of them too tall to leave in the covered trays. I've potted out about thirteen Jalapeno Ms, about ten Bradley tomatoes, three or four Lemon Boy tomatoes, and moved all of the Biggie Chiles from the covered flat to a Rubbermaid tote that will buy me enough time to let them grow a few true leaves before I move them.

I will never again use the cheapo Burpee 72-cell flats. It's a total pain in the neck to move the seedlings out of them unless you wait until they are nearly rootbound. The Jiffy-7 pellets are the only way to go -- moving them is easy, and there's very little stress on the plants. I'll post some pictures with an entry tomorrow, but tonight I wanted to get some dates recorded since the emergence of the seedlings to onset of fruiting might be good to know:

Jalapeno Ms planted on the afternoon of 21 February are almost all up -- only three remain to be potted; two of them are peeking through the soil and one is doing nothing. I planted sixteen of these in an old Jiffy 4 x 4 flat that is made for the big pellets, but I used the Jiffy-7s in it and it worked fine. These say that they take 75 days, so they may well be coming on about 15 May.

The Bradley tomatoes are supposed to take about 80 days, so if the rest of them come up in the next few days and I get them tended and in pots, they should be coming on the end of May. Since these are a strong determinate plant, most of the fruit will be off of them by the third week of June, I think. I might consider putting them in a spot that I can put a fall planting in after I pull them up in early July.

The Lemon Boy tomatoes are just now sprouting and there's no way all of them will be up and ready to pot until early next week. They are indeterminate and should begin to set fruit 72 days from emergence, so that means they will start to come on the same time as the Bradleys, maybe just a bit before, which was by design. I bet these will be ready to begin picking the last week in May. These will need to be put in a place that allows them to go until frost. As I mentioned the other day, they just keep putting out fruit. This might be my favorite tomato...

There are about a dozen of the Heinz hybrid up already, but they should be fine in the flat for another day or two. If they get too etiolated, I'll have to move them to pots, but I'd rather move the whole flat up since I planted thirty of them and it's a pain in the neck to move them until there's enough root structure to keep the peat from falling apart. If nothing else, I'll uncover them and put them up on the shelf near the lights and just watch them until they have a few true leaves on them, then pot them. They are only 70 days and are another determinate, so it looks like I'll be doing a great deal of canning the end of May, which is somewhat earlier than usual. This will be the tomato that I try to put up en masse like I've done Romas for the last few decades. We'll see how it goes. Again, these should be coming on in canning batch quantities about the end of May, unless I lose them to frost by putting them out too early. I think I can keep all of these plants inside until the second week of April. It'll be a jungle in here.

Only a few of the Fireworks are up, thank goodness, 'cause they are only 60 days until they're ready. Since they are an indeterminate slicing tomato, I planted 36 of them, with the intention of giving some of the plants away so that I don't get run out of the garden. If most of them come up before the week is out, they will be setting fruit a few weeks after they get put in the ground. I might see if I can rustle up some old two gallon containers and just pot them up so folks can move them to five-gallon buckets, stake them, and grow them on the patio. I'm beginning to think perhaps I've overdone it.

Almost all of the Biggie Chiles are up. They fruit at 68 days, so they will be coming on mid-May as well. I planted 18 and 17 are up already. As I mentioned, they can stay in the flat they're in pretty easily. I cut it out of the tray and moved it to a container and covered it with old mylar that I saved from a batch of Dell flat panels about ten years ago. Stuff comes in really handy. I usually use it under my clamps when I glue up furniture projects, but since it lets light through but traps moisture, it's great for the plant propagating.

The Habaneros, the Cayennes, and the Caribbean Reds are all up, too, but only just. While I've been typing this, the Florida High Bush eggplants have peeked through, no kidding. I suppose I'll sort out how to get them in pots in the next day or two since they can't be moved into the totes easily like the peppers can. I know it seems crazy, but as soon as I get all this stuff tended, I'm going to start planting cucumbers, squash, the more ornamental eggplants, the striped tomatoes, and the tomatillos. I should probably have my head examined.

Two more weeks or so and I'll put the tiller on the big tractor and start getting the ground ready and put the potatoes out...