vegetable starts

These pots do not have any seeds in them yet. The seed orders have been placed, and the packages are arriving.

This high topped low tunnel inside our unheated hoophouse will serve as a home for the tomato, pepper and eggplant vegetable seedlings. And they will go in here by mid-February. It might seem too early to get seedlings going, but by the time summer is here we all want tomatoes as early in the year as possible. The high top allows them to grow tall, the double layer to the outdoors protects from the very cold temperatures, and the amount of sunlight increases as the seedlings grow.

We start 12 types of tomatoes. Some end up for sale at the farmers market, most stay here. The extra ones are only sold when we are certain there are plenty for our needs, that enough are growing and strong enough to produce tons of tomatoes until fall.