I Just Couldn't Resist The Tomatoes...

I found two of these beauties at our local Wal-mart on one of my shopping trips this weekend. I was amazed at how large they were already. They are Beefsteak type tomato plants. If you are not familiar with them, they make really big slicing tomatoes. The kind that will cover a slice of bread, or the side of your plate. The kind you slice for the dinner table and wonder how you will eat it all. They are not for canning, or salsa, salads, or tacos. They are for slicing and eating.. huge, big, juicy slices. See how I am so easily wooed by their power and charm. I just couldn't resist these tomatoes.

I fretted about getting them for a bit. I walked around the garden center considering them for a good 15 minutes. The main reason, "how could I keep them alive to plant in the garden". It's still in the 30's here at night. We still have frost and can have a freeze for another 4 weeks. That and I am not positive we will have a garden. So another question to consider is what do I do with these beauties if I don't have a garden patch for them.

I decided to look for pots, and potting soil. That took another 15 minutes. I needed a pot that was big enough to hold them if I couldn't transplant, and one that I could move myself in and out each day. I want them out in the real sun as often as we have sunny days. That will require myself or hubby toting them in and out. So the pot had to be lightweight.

Another problem with me is watering. I tend to over-water stuff. I don't know why, I just do. The pots had to have drainage holes and I needed to remember to Steal some of the gravel we had put on our drive this spring. That would require some secret agent tactics, cause hubby is very proud of his pretty gravel and would not give up a pebble of it for a pot.

(I didn't think he would, but he did.. Way to go Dearest)

Drainage holes were a must just in case I decided to go crazy with the watering. I hope that we will have some warm rain. Rain water is much better for growing garden stuff then the well water. Another mystery to me.

Another thing was to make sure I had good potting soil just in case.. I had no trouble with that one. I have used Miracle grow potting soil in the past, and it's great. There is Miracle grow time released fertilizer right in the dirt, so no need to fertilize.

(doing the "don't have to fertilize" dance)

This is the Pot I chose. It's just perfect. Lightweight, there are holes in the bottom.

(the bottom is off this one) and it has a small reservoir to hold excess water. The bottom was in the house on the table where it will stay when taking the pots in and out of the house.

The plants look larger to me today. They are so much happier in the new dirt where their zillions of tiny roots can stretch and grow.

I am really hoping I can keep them alive until the end of May. Memorial Day Weekend is usually the weekend we plant our garden if the weather is right, and the earth is warm. I'm so excited for summer and these tomatoes. I'll take more pictures as time goes on. Hopefully I will have a couple of those giant juicy wonders to show you in a few months.