Well,
I didn't really intend on ending up with so many seedlings. I spread seeds into some community containers, and when they all came up at once and I started taking care of them, I just didn't have the heart to snip, snip, snip at perfectly good seedlings. So, Iet them live, and, in return, they gave me great joy!
After I counted how many there were and how healthy they were, I determined I could sell them at our local Farmer's Market. My problem was keeping them from growing past the 12" limit for selling there. At one point in the middle of winter, I turned ALL the heat off!. But, then, I inadvertently got overzealous with the fertilizer and set up some ugly-ness that a whole thread of gardeners couldn't figure out for awhile. By the time we figured out it had to be over-fertilization, and not some dread disease, the Farmer's Market sale day was just upon me, and, without knowing for absolute certain that I wasn't going to introduce some horrible disease into someone's garden, I decided to not go to sale.
So, I gave them all away, instead...to friends, co-workers, and neighbors, who clearly understood I was just about 90% sure it wasn't a disease, and that the plants would grow out of it. Which they did, and produced even more bountiful harvests for them than mine did! (They're all in-ground gardeners -- I'm still in containers -- eBuckets)...
So, this go round, I'll sow a bit sparingly, although these people are EXPECTING tomato seedlings from me next season. They've started researching and putting in orders already!
My ultimate goal is to complete my edible landscape yard design, grow flowers and veggies side x side, and have such a bountiful veggie harvest that I'll have enough surplus to give away to help feed some families. That's my dream goal.
Another gardener said I was exemplifying "sharecropping" at its best, because, even if I didn't grow a single thing, I'd STILL have veggies on my table. I enjoyed my own tomatoes that I never grew in my own yard!
Here's a tomato my co-worker grew from one of my seedlings.
BLACK KRIM
