It seems like the peppers and tomatoes never sprout. Why do they take so LONG?
Maybe a better question is, why am I so impatient? 🙂
I planted peppers and a few tomatoes last week. I’m late, but better late than never. I have a few varieties planted and I am beginning to question my strategy already. Is it better to plant fewer varieties (particularly of the tomatoes), so that you have a more uniform harvest to preserve or is it okay to possibly mix several varieties? Hmmm…
Here are the tomatoes. I did start some sauce tomatoes, which is something that we haven’t done before. I have been noticing that canned tomatoes are one of the few canned veggies we buy on a regular basis. Hopefully we can get enough to put a few jars away this year.
Of course you can’t actually TELL that they are tomatoes, because none of the little gems have shown themselves yet. Actually they look suspiciously like the peppers.
Waiting.
Misting.
Waiting.
Come on, already!
In the meantime… I have discovered a problem out back. It appears to be some sort of pocket gopher. Can’t say I’m real thrilled about that. Hasn’t appeared to have found the garden yet. He’s off in the grassy area, but my yard is not that big, so it’s just a matter of time.
Anybody know any good tricks for getting rid of the pesky little buggers? I’m not big on the poison bait idea but I’m contemplating traps or gas. Anybody?
The Jones Garden Blog 
I also lack patience! It will come. The time will come. Which is what I have to keep telling myself so I don’t dig them up.
Hahaha… I’ve done that, start moving soil around to see if they rotted in there or if they are actually sprouting. I give peppers a month before I start poking. That’s a long time. Three more weeks. Man, I hope I see sprouts before then!
Lol, so know how you feel re the tomatoes and peppers 🙂
Yes waiting for our baby plants to grow can be both challenging and exciting, but spring is not too far away. Patience, Grasshopper!
No suggestions but when you mentioned traps or gas, I had a flash of Bill Murray. 🙂
LOL! That’s awesome. What a classic movie. I’m hoping C4 is more of a last resort.
Lehmans Non Electric. Catalogue online. Look up Mole chaser and gopher traps. The mole chaser apparently works okay.
Thank you!
I grow any and all tomatoes I can get my hands on – when I’m ready to can tomatoes I can all the ripe ones – all the green ones get tossed into boxes and covered with newspaper (the ethylene gas they emit will ripen them) and those get turned into sauce regardless of the variety. Making sauce is just a matter of how much patience you have to cook it down to the consistency you like – though sauce tomatoes do give a little more bang for the buck. I’m fortunate to have a wood cook stove to leave them simmer on – but you can take them off overnight and restart the next day. Well worth the effort. If you’ve still more green tomatoes – make green tomatoe mincemeat. Much tastier than that nasty stuff from the store. 😊
That sounds great, thank you!
Jones, no help for the gopher. I have groundhogs at Terra Nova Gardens which is nothing more than a gopher on steroids. From the looks of him/her the last time I saw him, he must have weighed about 15 or 20 pounds. Groundhogs are vegetarian so they love to eat just about any thing in the garden. My main garden is away from the varmint trails and I plant stuff over next to the trails as a decoy to keep them over there. It’s seemed to have worked so far. My plan is to put a sizable patch of sweet corn over there as well to keep the raccoons from challenging my fence to get my corn. Good luck with gopher control.
Have a great seed starting day.
15-20 POUNDS… I don’t think this one could be more than 15-20 OUNCES. Wow! I think I’m going to look into the trap thing. Of course I didn’t see any new holes yesterday afternoon, so the one shot I took with the shovel when I thought I saw something may have been more productive than I thought. I can only hope.
I’ve heard bubble gum in the holes. Not really a pleasant thought either!
I’ve heard Juicy Fruit. With all of the kids we have that play out our house I would worry about somebody thinking that they found free candy.
are you a soil blocker? I love those!
I’ve had a mixed bag with them so far, although I think I’m getting the hang of it. Making them seems pretty easy and actually a lot of fun, it’s the watering part. I think the peppers and tomatoes are good for training on this since they take so long.
I can’t believe we are only a month away from planting seedlings of our own. These look so beautiful (even tho they aren’t sprouted). There’s something artistic and lovely about sod pods!
Thanks! I’ve been trying to make them more uniform, but they are not quite there yet.