Transition time again

I brought a tomato plant in a pot in last fall because it just didn't seem like it was ready to give up the ghost for the season. It produced a few little tomatoes in early winter and throughout the spring. It grew like crazy, and since it was on the lower shelf of a five-foot plant shelf, it sent tendrils up at least six feet in the living room.

I took it outside last week, gave it a week to get used to life outside and put it on the deck in full sunshine. I only broke a few of the branches. So now instead of growing six feet up, it grows five feet down to the ground from the deck. As long as those little blossoms turn into tomatoes, I'll be happy.

I was going to start transitioning my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant outside over the weekend, but decided it was too cold. With a forecast of 77 and sunny, I decided today (Monday, 4/30)  was the day for them to begin experiencing the wonderful world outside. So before I left for work, I put all my trays of seedlings on the picnic table on the deck and gave them some encouraging words and water. They'll be in the shade today and tomorrow, and I might try to find a little sun for them to experience on Wednesday. 

As you can see, the peppers and tomatoes are decent-sized and look like they won't go into shock when I transplant them. Two thumbs up to  the grow lights I got from Lowe's and the bio-dome and plugs I bought from Park Seed. I can't get good starts using just a southern-facing window, but I'm happy with the plants I grew this year. I'll use both the lights and the bio-dome again next year.