Tomatoes in Crisis!

I have a confession to make.  I do NOT have a green thumb.  (Except that the pepper on the far left seems to be doing great - I'm already pinching little blooms off of it to keep it from setting peppers.  I named it George and I pet it every day so it will live.)

So being in charge of the starts is a lot like asking me to coach a little league team.  Of girls.  It's every bit as stressful.  I have to water them, feed them, and make sure the lights are at the right height as the plants grow.

Maybe you think that's a ridiculous comparison; after all, watering plants is pretty straightforward.  If the dirt the plants are growing in is dry, water them.  If they look a little peaked, feed them.  And if they're touching the lights, raise the lights.

Apparently it's watering I have the most trouble with (though I'm sure some of you are going to point out that our starts are awfully leggy).

It isn't that I'm physically incapable of caring for the plants.  Again, watering is pretty straightforward.  Pour the water on the dirt (not the plants; tomatoes don't like for their leaves to get wet).  Pour enough water to soak all the dirt in the pots.  And the pots too, since they're in 4" peat pots, which are nice and absorbent.

There are a couple of tricky things going on here.  First, the shelves that the pots are sitting on are not solid; they've got holes in them.  They're positively riddled with holes.  And hanging on the bottom of each shelf is what?  Fluorescent lights.  Fluorescent lights don't like water.  It tends to short them out.

Also, all of those lights are plugged into power strips at one side of the shelves.  Power strips don't like water any more than fluorescent lights do.  I'm scared to death I'm going to slop some water on something that will go SIZZLE (or SPARK!) and croak, possibly catching our office on fire while it's at it.

Further difficulty comes in caring for the plants on the top shelves.  This requires me to stand on Jeff's desk chair. Considering my penchant for dizziness, this has been a problem.  I haven't fallen, but last night I spilled some water on his chair cushion.  Oops.  I promise, I wasn't being passive-aggressive!

Our poor tomatoes.  They're yellow.  They haven't been watered properly, they might have TMV (tobacco mosaic virus), or they could just need feeding.  Or a combination of the above. In case you haven't figured it out yet, my problem in caring for them is remembering to care for them.  I'm a busy lady, I run the entire business side of the farm and the farm stand and our household.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Well, that and my brown thumb.

PS:  I have the greatest faith that these tomatoes will turn into healthy, productive plants.  The roots are the key, and we plant 'em deep.  That's why I'm not concerned about how leggy they are - all that bare stem is going underground anyway.  Capiche?  And no, I don't blame you if you don't want to buy any of our starts.  Compared to the commercial plants, ours do indeed look like crap. (sigh)