I arrived last Friday at the end of the day and the Moonglow tomatoes clearly needed transplanting. Their roots were small but their tops were tangling together. There was an extra hour of daylight thanks to daylight saving so I got into it and transplanted about 50 seedlings into separate pots.

I start to feel like the magician’s apprentice at this time of year, no sooner have I transplanted one flat of seedlings the next one is needing attention, and as I finish the last flat the first lot of small pots need to go into bigger pots, and so on. It’s not going to stop until I get everything into the ground sometime in November.

The Moonglow were seeds I collected from last year’s tomatoes, whereas the Beefsteak seeds were bought last year. The difference in germination was quite big – the Beefsteak germinated well enough, but compared to the Moonglow they were well spaced.

I really notice the difference in seed freshness with peppers, they germinate incredibly well when fresh, and not well at all if they are over a year old. They even seem to germinate more quickly, although I don’t know if this is true or just an illusion because so many more germinate. My Topepo peppers in the greenhouse are just coming up now – last year’s seed, so n.