{"id":4426,"date":"2012-04-09T04:58:01","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T11:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=4426"},"modified":"2012-04-21T15:07:15","modified_gmt":"2012-04-21T22:07:15","slug":"the-best-laid-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=4426","title":{"rendered":"The Best Laid Plans."},"content":{"rendered":"

Just what I (never<\/em>) expected.\u00a0 I couldn’t help but notice there was a disparity between the tomato transplants in the greenhouse.\u00a0 The seedlings transplanted into straw bales had the benefit of the decomposing straw to warm their roots, provide nutrients, and provide consistent moisture.\u00a0 The seedlings transplanted into plastic pots just had potting soil and were set into a tray of water to keep them from drying out.\u00a0 According to my (internet search done at work<\/em>) research, the tomatoes in the straw bales would grow quickly and vigorously.\u00a0 Which meant they would remain in the greenhouse, providing early tomatoes by May in order to (make the neighbors jealous<\/em>) make fresh salads while cool season greens were still growing in the garden.\u00a0 The tomatoes in pots would develop slower, making them perfect for transplanting into the garden by end of May when the soil is warm, nighttime temperatures don’t drop below the 60’s, and the greenhouse is getting too shaded for good production.\u00a0 It was an (idealistic and naive<\/em>) in-depth and deliberate plan.<\/p>\n

How (predictable<\/em>) surprising that it didn’t work out that way.\u00a0 Like all of my best laid plans, it hit a snag.\u00a0 Despite the extensive (anecdotal<\/em>) documented evidence on the Web, the tomatoes in the straw grew slowly.\u00a0 And the tomatoes in the pots grew like rocketships reaching for the sky.\u00a0 You probably think I’m (making it up so I have something to post about<\/em>) exaggerating.\u00a0 See for yourself:<\/p>\n

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Obviously, there’s been some kind of complication.\u00a0 Perhaps the straw bales aren’t (being watered as directed on the straw bale gardening sites because, I mean, who has time to water them and add nitrogen every<\/strong> day???<\/em>) decomposing fast enough, so the roots are compressed and the plants’ growth is slowed.\u00a0 Maybe the MetroMix growing medium that I used in the pots because it (was what was available at the feed mill<\/em>) was highly recommended is as great as proponents claimed.\u00a0 No matter what, I needed to adjust my plan.<\/p>\n

Originally I (guessed<\/em>) reasoned the best bet was to\u00a0go ahead and put the large tomato plants\u00a0in the garden.\u00a0 We’ve had an unseasonably warm spring and with daytime temperatures\u00a0getting as high as\u00a0the 80’s\u00a0they should (die quickly<\/em>) make the adjustment fine without having to harden them off.\u00a0 Of course, that kind of thinking instantly summoned a cold front and a frost warning.\u00a0 I’m very (unlucky<\/em>) powerful like that.\u00a0 I realize you don’t believe\u00a0that I can conjure weather.\u00a0 Please (see my previous post<\/a>—how dare you not keep track of what’s going on in my life??!!!<\/em>) note that cold weather arrived as soon as I switched all the kids\u00a0clothing in their drawers from sweatshirts and jeans to T-shirts and shorts.\u00a0 I mean, how more (unlucky<\/em>) powerful\u00a0can you be?<\/p>\n

I decided\u00a0the circumstances required a Plan A<\/strong> and Plan B<\/strong>.\u00a0 Plan (Crap,-This-Is-Going-To-Take-All-Day!<\/em>) A<\/strong> involved dividing the large tomato plants.\u00a0 One of each tomato variety would be transplanted into bigger and deeper\u00a0containers in the greenhouse and would\u00a0stay there to provide hothouse tomatoes.\u00a0 The remaining large tomatoes would have to stay in their small containers until April 27th–after the final frost date in our area of April 15th and a favorable lunar sign for planting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then they’d be moved to tomato cages wrapped in plastic in the garden to harden off.\u00a0 The smaller and slower growing tomato plants in the straw bales would now become the tomatoes to be transplanted in the garden in\u00a0 May to provide a second harvest of tomatoes.<\/p>\n

Plan (Oh Well, Sh*t Happens.<\/em>) B<\/strong> meant keeping the transplants in their pots or or straw bales\u00a0until the weather was suitable and hoping they didn’t die from being root bound or got so large that they suffered transplant shock when finally moved to the garden.\u00a0 If they started to droop and die before the weather stayed warm, they’d be frantically transplanted in the garden, regardless of the weather, hoping for the best.\u00a0 Plan B was less time consuming but more likely to involve desperation, failure, and drinking to drown one’s sorrows.\u00a0 But then that’s Plan B’s M.O., isn’t it?<\/p>\n

So Big was put in charge of preparing the garden for Plan B.\u00a0 The tomato beds hadn’t been messed with since we had a killing frost in November of last year.\u00a0 Leaving the beds untilled (sure is easier than hoeing all that mess up<\/em>) preserves beneficial bacteria and fungi in the soil and letting organic matter grow on the surface (sure beats weeding<\/em>) provides an easy nitrogen source prior to planting.\u00a0 Big started with this:<\/p>\n

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He weeded…<\/p>\n

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…added a bucket of compost…<\/p>\n

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…replaced the cages and stakes…<\/p>\n

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…and hammed it up for the camera…<\/p>\n

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…until finally each tomato plant had an emergency Plan B bed that looked like this:<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Pretty and I commenced with Plan A in the greenhouse.\u00a0 We dismantled the shelves and pulled out the 55 gallon drums so we’d have room for large containers.\u00a0 We reclaimed the 2 pots that my magnolia trees came in, a 4 sided wooden container with no bottom (???)\u00a0 and the concrete blocks that had been holding up the shelves in order to make larger planters for the big tomatoes.\u00a0 Then we filled the containers with topsoil from a pile The Other Half left next to the greenhouse for just these type of plan changes.\u00a0 We planted the tomatoes and put cages around them.\u00a0 The straw bales with small tomato plants were lined up in front since there’s no worries about them blocking the light to the larger plants.\u00a0 And, finally, the remaining large tomatoes were put in the center of the greenhouse and stakes put in their pots to at least keep them from flopping over.\u00a0 Basically we flipped our greenhouse.\u00a0 Flipping is not actually as fun as they make it look on cable TV.\u00a0 Which is one of the (annoying<\/em>) amazing things about farming.\u00a0 Just when you finish a project, you get to redo it.\u00a0 It’s truly (discouraging<\/em>) exhilarating.\u00a0 In any case, here’s Plan A:<\/p>\n

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Now we’ll just wait and see what the weather does and how the plants grow over the next few weeks.\u00a0 Will it get warm enough to put those large plants outside in the garden before they get root bound and die?\u00a0 Will the small plants continue to grow at a slow rate until May or they will get stunted and die in the bales before then?\u00a0 I’m not saying there’s a Plan (Really?\u00a0 Again?<\/em>) C<\/strong> but as Pretty and I put away our tools, she asked,<\/p>\n

“They do still sell tomato transplants at the store, right?”<\/p>\n

“Yes,”\u00a0 I sighed.\u00a0 “They do.”<\/p>\n

So, will it be frozen tomato plants:<\/p>\n

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Or wilted tomato plants:<\/p>\n

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Too close to call, tomato fans, too close to call.<\/p>\n

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Just what I (never) expected.\u00a0 I couldn’t help but notice there was a disparity between the tomato transplants in the greenhouse.\u00a0 The seedlings transplanted into straw bales had the benefit of the decomposing straw to warm their roots, provide nutrients, and provide consistent moisture.\u00a0 The seedlings transplanted into plastic pots just had potting soil and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[176,17,175,88,174,25,86],"class_list":["post-4426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-compost","tag-garden","tag-greenhouse","tag-seedlings","tag-straw-bales","tag-tomatoes","tag-transplants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4426"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4612,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4426\/revisions\/4612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}