Am I Only One Sick of Transplanting?

[ApertureF11Sniper]

Am I the only one who is sick of transplanting?....OMG....I am so burnt out. 240 pepper plants, 45 tomato plants, 40 various flowers and a dozen other vegetables....I still have 60 more pepper plants that need a pot to call home.....I am running out of soil too having just about used up all that I bought and my soil from last year.....My hands wont seem to come clean when I wash them. I just want to sleep in but no now I have to go walk all my plants in the dark before first light looking for slugs....People who garden I now realize are part crazy......And this is just my 3rd year.

[applestar]

Welcome to the club

I’m slowing down. I grow too many, even when I try to cut back. So once the best of them have been planted, I don’t always maintain the rest properly.

I’ve rescued a few into half-filled one size larger pots. Have to make a decision on the rest - save or discard/cull.

I have trouble cutting the less desirable ones loose…. I pitched a few in the overgrown area of the garden. If they manage to grow up above the weeds, I might give them support.

[ApertureF11Sniper]

Welcome to the club

I’m slowing down. I grow too many, even when I try to cut back. So once the best of them have been planted, I don’t always maintain the rest properly.

I’ve rescued a few into half-filled one size larger pots. Have to make a decision on the rest - save or discard/cull.

I have trouble cutting the less desirable ones loose…. I pitched a few in the overgrown area of the garden. If they manage to grow up above the weeds, I might give them support.

I did another count as my last count of 240 was a week or more ago. I am at 285 pepper plants transplanted and 47 tomato plants. My goal for pepper plants is 300 I will clearly make that by July 4th. I will end up with probably 320.... I just give them to people like the local fire department, friends, family, strangers and so on. I got a bunch of free plants from my local garden center. Just plugs. Mad Hatter and Serano but when selecting them I did not keep them separate so I got confused as to what was what. So when I planted them I marked the pots as "Free" when they put peppers out I should be able to tell the difference. Pretty obvious.

[applestar]

I stopped counting, but at final count update, I had

…202 tomato plants and 67 mostly peppers plus eggplants and tomatillos. I don’t count other stuff. Looks like your tomato:pepper ratio is opposite mine.

Fortunately (?) I don’t have enough space to plant them all

But you know, more you plant, the more you’ll have to take care of as they grow, and then more to harvest, and then to decide what to do with, including processing them. So…. yeah.

I think for me, the fun part is starting from seeds, watching them grow, and finally to fruit. GRADUATION TIME!

After that, it’s not as much fun except to find the best tasting ones.

[imafan26]

I don't have room for that much stuff on my bench. I do plant a few extra just in case some of them don't make it. I have a long growing season, so I don't have to plant a lot of things all at one time. I space them out, otherwise, there would not be any room to put it all. Sometimes, I plant too many things and I hate having to rehome or throw them away. Right now I have 10 tomatoes, that is more than I normally have. 7 of them are the same thing. I just did some transplanting today. I still enjoy it, mainly because I only had to transplant cukes from plug trays, which I nornally don't like to use to 4 inch pots or into their final 18 gallon containers. What I don't like is having to prep the 18 gallon containers empty, clean, and remake the soil. I can only do a couple of those a day.

I have to consider now more than ever, what to plant in my small space that I can actually use or share. I like to experiment with some new varieties, but I don't go overboard with it. I prefer to plant a variety of things, and I prefer to grow things that with less maintenance and I prefer things that have a long harvest period or keep well. And I try not to have them come in at the same time, but that doesn't always work out. There are still times, like in the main garden when I have to clear the entire bed and replant it or I have multiple plants that are need to be harvested at the same time.

[ApertureF11Sniper]

I have a lot left to transplant and most likely a lot will go to waste but I'd rather have more then I need then to be short. Now I am looking at a plant die off, from a brutal cold and wet week we had. Some might be dying from transplant issues but I doubt that as transplanting is such a basic thing.

Some of my Tomatos seem to be recovering though they are no more then a twig with a touch or two of green new leaves. I am sticking with them as a learning experience. I have other plants but not in huge quantities. 2 bush zucchini, 2 bush cucumber and 4 pots of parsley.

[imafan26]

Gardening is something where you can always learn something new.