Murder & Mayhem in the Basement

I discovered that I love to start plants from seeds indoors when there's still snow covering the ground & I can't get that chill off my bones just yet. It's the nurturing instinct in me, I suppose. But plants are similar to people that the more one knows how to look after them, the better they respond to that treatment. And visa versa.

It is fun to watch them sprout from these dehydrated looking seeds to something green and growing. I have learned that the seed's viability is not 100% guaranteed so when sowing them, one has to keep this in mind. As it happens, there was a 100% viability among the 'Brandywine' heritage tomatoes I sowed & the task of "eliminating" half of them took getting used to. OK, a few seconds, but still...

Here are the tomato seedlings waiting to be "chosen" to live.

Body parts, on their way to the compost bin

As you can see, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this lot. They were as hearty looking as the ones I have transplanted. On the other hand, I did not have room for 20 tomato plants!

So, as the weather warms up, my basement garden will soon overflow and then I have to set up my little portable greenhouse on the deck to harden them off. I can hardly wait.