My compost bin was getting full and I was looking into ways of using it. I had two more tomato seedlings to plant and I decided to plant them in pots with homemade compost. Hopefully the compost is not too strong to burn the plants.
I took the potting mix from the previous plants and mixed it with compost. Probably it was about 60% potting mix and 40% compost.
Tomatoes in pots with homemade compost
These were my last two tomato seedlings and I decided to experiment with them and test my homemade compost in pots. This is the first time when I use my compost in pots, as I always use it for my in-ground beds.
Last tomato seedlings
First step was to get the old potting soil and mix it with a 5 gallon bucket of compost. Afterwards I put a thin layer at the bottom of the pots and and a layer of compost. For the compost layer I split one 5 gallon bucket between the two pots. Afterwards I filled up the pots with the remaining potting mix.
Compost bin
Old potting mix and compost
A thin layer of mix at the bottom of the pot
Compost layer
Pots filled with the remaining potting mix
Holes prepared for the seedlings
Next I follow my usual process of transplanting seedlings. For more detailed instructions and updates you can check How to transplant tomatoes in pots .
In today’s post I will show you how to transplant tomatoes in pots. These seedlings are part of an experiment as they are planted much later into the season, you can read more about it in the “Split tomato seedlings” section at the end of this post. My plan to extend my harvest season by staggering the plants and also move the pots to a different area of the backyard, in order to hopefully avoid getting spider mites.
How to transplant tomatoes in pots
Below are the tomato seedlings that I will transplant today. There are two varieties: glacier and golden jubilee and I started them from seeds about 1 month ago.
Tomato seedlings
Next, I will show you how I transplant my tomato seedlings into pots step by step with pictures.
Cleaning and preparing the pots
At first, I start by cleaning and washing my pots to lower the chance of transmitting the pests and diseases from the previous plants. I used my newly addition to my garden tools: Dramm 14804 One Touch Rain Wand, and I love it! The debit is high, but it’s not breaking the plants when I water them. It is much better than the old one that I had, which had a very strong jet. I show the difference between them in this post.
Cleaning and drying the pots
While the pots are drying in the sun, I prepare the potting mix. I use a combination of last season’s potting mix and some left over from a few weeks ago when I transplanted the cucumbers and I improved it with steer manure.
Old potting soil
Potting soil mixed with steer manure
Before I started transplanting the seedlings, I noticed that one of the pots had only one hole for the drainage. I used a drill bit of 3/4″ to make the holes, as you can see in the pictures below.
3/4 drill bit
3 extra holes on the bottom
Planting seedlings
I started by filling up the pots with the potting mix. Afterwards I made a hole and added my regular ingredients: half measuring scoop of starter fertilizer, half scoop of grounded eggshells and a quarter scoop of epsom salt.
Potting soil
Starter fertilizer, grounded eggshells, epsom salt and earthworm castings
Adding starter fertilizer
Grounded eggshells
Epsom salt
Next I removed the lower leaves from the tomato seedlings leaving only the top 2 or 3 leaves in order to be able to plant the seedlings very deep into the soil.
Before
After
Afterwards I removed the seedling from the original pot and gently split the roots to help them grow and spread in the new pot. Then I placed the plant into the hole and covered it until there was only 1 inch from the soil level. The next step was to add the earthwork castings and covered it with a thin layer of potting mix. The last step is to water the newly transplanted seedlings.
Tomato seedling
Splitting the roots
Adding earthwork castings
Watering the tomato
I like to plant the tomato seedlings very deep because the tomatoes develop roots from the stem if they are covered with soil. A good root system makes the plant stronger and will produce more fruits.
I transplanted a total of 4 plants: one Glacier tomato and three Golden jubilee tomatoes.
Transplanted tomatoes
Updates
In this section I will post updates with the tomato plants during the growing season and throughout their life cycle. Hopefully I will be able to keep them safe from spider mites and extend my tomato harvest season.
May 29 – 7 days after transplant, the tomatoes are doing great and growing fast.
Tomato plants on May 29
June 6 -the 2 tomatoes on the right are the ones transplanted with homemade compost and a few squash plants are sprouting from the compost.
Squash sprouting from compost
June 13 – I left one squash plant in each pot and removed the extra squash plants.
Tomatoes on June 13
June 25 – the plants have tomatoes on them. It’s hard to see in the pictures, but the leaves on the tomatoes that were planted in homemade compost are dark green while the others are light green.
Golden jubilee tomatoes
Glacier tomatoes
Tomatoes on June 25
June 30 – more seedlings are sprouting from the compost, they look like peppers and beets seedlings.
In today’s post I will explain how to transplant blueberry plants. I luckily found plants on sale, so I purchased two varieties since it is recommended to have at least two different kinds to help with pollination.
How to transplant blueberry
Blueberries area little more different because they like an acidic soil. In order to increase de acidity in the soil you can add peat moss to the existing soil.
These are the blueberry plants that I will transplant today. The varieties that I have are Sharpe Blue and Sunshine Blue.
Sharpe Blue and Sunshine Blue blueberry plants
Below I will describe how I transplanted my blueberry plants step by step with pictures.
Firstly I took the potting soil that I made a few weeks ago and added more peat moss to it. You can see how I prepared the soil in the post how to transplant cucumbers in pots. I used a ratio of 2/3 potting soil and 1/3 peat moss and mixed them together.
Previously prepared potting soil
2/3 old potting soil and 1/3 peat moss
New potting soil
Afterwards I filled the 5 gallon pots up to about 1/3 from the top. I placed the plant on top to make sure that it won’t be too tall before I moved to the next step. Next I add the starter fertilizer in the pot. This time I didn’t use the eggshells and epsom salt as I usually do for all the other plants.
5 gallon pots 2/3 full
Testing the plants height
Dr Earth Starter fertilizer
Adding fertilizer in the pot
After that, I removed the plant from its original pot and gently split some of the roots to help the plant spread its root system in the new pot. Then I filled up the 5 gallon pot with potting soil, being careful not to cover the original soil of the plant. The blueberry doesn’t like to be planted deeper than the original pot. When it’s planted in the ground, it’s recommended to leave it out of the soil a little bit, since they drown easily.
The last step is to water the new transplanted blueberry plants.
Plant out of the original pot
Split roots
Plant placed in the pot
Plant covered with potting soil
The transplanted blueberry
Watering plants
Updates
In this section I will post periodic updates with the blueberry plants.
In this post I will explain step by step how to transplant eggplants in pots. I used 5 gallons containers for each seedling.
Here are the eggplants that I transplanted today. I started them from seeds and grew them indoors, then gradually hardened them. If you’d like to read more about their lifetime story, please take a look at this post.
How to transplant eggplants in pots
Firstly I filled the pots with potting mix, which I made using my recipe. If you’d like to see how it was made and which ingredients I used, click here.
Afterwards, I made a hole in the middle and I added half scoop of starter fertilizer, a quarter scoop of epsom salt and half a scoop of grounded eggshells. The measuring scoop that I used is the red one from the picture below.
Here is the red measuring scoopThe hole with starter fertilizer, epsom salt and eggshells
The next step is to place the eggplant seedling in the hole and cover it partially with the potting mix. Afterwards I add the earthworm castings and cover it with a thin layer of potting mix, as seen in the pictures below.
This is my measure for earthworm castings Earthworm castings
Updates
In the next section I will periodically post pictures with the eggplants throughout the season.
The projects for today were to plant beans in pots and transplant the remaining seedlings. You can see the seedlings in the seedlings update post.
I had a packet of Cherokee wax yellow bush beans and I decided to plant the beans in 5 gallon pots. Because I didn’t have enough potting soil, I had to make a little more. So, I got the old potting soil from 2 of the 5 gallon pots and mixed it with steer manure, potting soil and planting mix and filled up 4 pots with the new mix.
How to plant beans in pots
After I mixed the soil and filled up the pots I started to plant beans. I placed 4 seeds in each pot and pushed it down into the mix at a depth of around 1/2 inch. After I covered the seeds with the soil I watered the soil thoroughly.
The pots filled with potting mixPlanting seeds
According to the packet it will take between 14-21 days for the seeds to germinate.
In the next section I will post periodic updates for the life of the bean plants
Bean plants updates
February 28– The beans sprouted and are starting to pop out
March 20 – The bean plants are growing very slowly because the weather was cold in the month of March and it seems that it will be cold for a while in the future.
April 18 – Finally the weather is getting warmer and the beans are in bloom.
April 26 – The bean pods are starting to form.
May 5 – today I harvested the first beans. Also the plants have spider mites on the leafs. So, I spay them once a week with a solution made from 2 tbs of pure neem oil and 3/4 tbs of soap in a gallon of water.
