It's my first time starting a garden from seed and I had no idea if I could trust germination rates as most of my seeds were 5+ years old.
I started 18 kinds of tomatoes, 6 kinds of eggplant, 2 types of tomatillos and 22 types of peppers.
6 cells of each and almost every seed came up. I scrapped a good deal that were not healthy but I don't have the heart to thin the healthy ones.
I have potted up almost everything and now have between 3-6 of each plant, like 200 pots now. I still have 2 seed trays waiting to germinate. I am planning to give away a lot of plants to neighbors, friends and family.
BUT
I HAVE NOWHERE CLOSE TO ENOUGH ROOM FOR THESE IN MY GARDEN WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME
How do you guys decide what to grow year-to-year instead of growing EVERYTHING
by burnerburner0913
20 Comments
I can deeply relate to this problem.
Maybe reframe this? Nature is not sentimental. Nature thins. A oak drops many, many, many more acorns than will become seeds. If you can’t plant these then it’s just waste. If you’re giving them away then it’s generous of you — lots of people don’t want to start from seed.
Im here to say you’re not alone
You are a rare kind. I cannot do veggie gardening. I like fruit trees and vines because understand how they grow.
How do you approach such vegetable growing?
I just make a new bed. My objective is to have no grass in my yard.
I have a pepper growing with a tomato and I have to dry my hardest to separate them.
What light are you using
Great way to get to know toyed neighbors. I gave away 2 dozen tomatoes last year and my neighbors loved them
ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
I’m a real problem
With your first child you are on top of everything: reading books, watching videos, tracking feedings and poop times. You are making sure milestones are hit and spend nights awake hoping that 88% percentile in head circumference doesn’t mean your kid is an imbecile. You fuss endlessly and fret over your precious baby.
Kid number two comes along, you toss some cheerios at them and tell em to walk it off when they fall off a slide. You love them just the same, but you also know how to tell they are safe and happy. You also know more fretting will make no difference.
Gardening is similar. That first year you are all in invested, sounds like you jumped in headfirst with the number and variety of options plants. The thought of killing one of your green babies is painful, impossible even! However, you know you can’t give them all what they need, you know you should cull, but your heart screams NO!
The good news is, year two is much easier. You know more, you are more confident and you know what your garden can handle. Hang in there, you’ll be chucking seedlings into your compost in no time.
Short term solution? Adoption! Every time someone comes over, they leave with as many seedlings as you can convince them to take. Bring some to the grocery store and leave them on a shelf, you can even drop them off at a local fire station and no one will be allowed to question you.
Welcome to plant parenthood, where if things get to be too much you can just huck em all in a river and still be able to sleep at night.
I do this every year
I can’t thin a healthy plant. So I give them away or squeeze them in random places in my yard. I had a tomato I threw near my garage. Surprising nothing bothered it and I pulled tons of tomatoes of it!
The only way I cope is giving away extra plants to coworkers and friends.
I don’t thin.
I’ve just eventually learned to thin. And learned to trust the germination rates 😀. I grow an extra or two of each plant to be safe, and give them away.
I have enough coworkers that garden, but buy plants from a nursery, that I never have a problem giving away extra plants. They ask me for more than I can grow. Apparently I grow good plants.
Whoa you have a lot of babies. This is the thin line between gardening and farming❤️
I feel this so bad. I sow way more than I need because Im scared there will be duds/unhealthy seedlings and I also need a million varieties of everything. And then I think oh well I can just give extras away, but no one else has a grow light or sunny window and cant take the seedlings until much closer to planting date (Mid may in NY). So of course they need potting up and then im out of room and everything struggles to compete for the light and gets all tall and weird.
Moving forward I will do the paper towel germ method so I can see what actually sprouts before popping them into the cells. Do you make a garden plan? Its not perfect but it does help with approximating how many plants you need. Im doing 1 plant of each tomato variety this year, will sprout 3 seeds of each, pick the healthiest one and give the other 2 away.
However I did not apply that logic to the peppers/eggplants this year. I’m in a complete panic right now as I only have a 2×2 space under the grow light in my living room and maybe 100 seedlings that will need potting up in the near future. Im using a new vendor this year and did NOT expect every single seed to sprout! I have to do the tomatoes and everything else in a few weeks! Might keep my giveaway plants at my job lol theres a nice window there.
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BTW the seed vendor with the super high rate was Pupperpeppers (and Fedco for Annina eggplants). Given my rates with previous vendor I expected maybe half the seeds to sprout if lucky, especially with superhots.
I end up handing them out to everyone. I gave some to my kids bus driver last year.
Why thin anything? Pot it up in mini plastic bags and donate to elementary schools to distribute to students/clubs/classes. You will raise the next gen of gardeners.