Summer Plant Kick Off, Part 1

I finished hardening off my tomatoes on Tuesday, and since our night temps are in the low 40's, I wanted to get them in the ground for their first night out. I probably waited a little longer than I should've, but here they were before.

Viva Italia and Pearson Determinate tomatoes...

Here they are in their new home...

I placed two Pearson's in the back, a Viva Italia in the front, and two of my three basils on the front left and right. The tomatoes look even smaller inside the huge tomato cages. Those cages were a great free find on craigslist. The add said a "few" cages, and I pictured 3 or 4 small cages. I drove to the guys house in my 4 door sedan and he had like, 10 humongous cages. I had to do some pretty creative stacking, packing, and bending to get them all in my car. I can only imagine what that guy must've been thinking!

I didn't exactly use the trench method like I was planning...  There's not a ton of space in the 4'x2' box for laying such leggy plants on their sides like the trench method instructs. Instead I dug three pretty deep holes and placed the plants about 7 inches below the soil line. I'm hoping this will give similar results as the trench method. That or it'll kill 'em and I'll know better for next year. HA!

Yesterday I finally planted the pride of my warm weather plant kick off...

White Habanero and Baby Belle sweet peppers (Italian Cameo basil on the left). I don't know what in the world I'm going to do with 2 plants worth of habanero's! Last season we regularly grilled and ate our Fresno chili's--nom, but Habanero's are a bit out of my league (I'm growing them more for DH and to say I've grown white habanero's teeheehee).

These are the pride of my garden because they'll be growing in my SWPs. Here they are this morning. Habanero's in the back, Baby Belle's in the front...

I see a lot of people using all sorts of different ratios of peat moss, pearlite, and vermiculite for their SWPs, but I'm sticking with EG's recommendations again, and going with a 6:3:1 ratio. One completed kitty litter bucket SWP holds 3 gallons of mix. Again, EG recommends adding 1/2 cup each of Dolomitic lime and a CRF (Controlled Release Fertilizer) scratched into the top 2 inches of the soil. This seemed like it might be a bit much for 3 gallons of mix, so I'm conducting an experiment. One of each variety received the recommended dose, and the other two plants received half (1/4 cup each).

In part two of my garden kick off, I'll share the next round of plants that will go into the ground/containers. Beans, cucumbers, melons, more sweet peppers, and maybe one more round of tomatoes (I need to find a place for them).