My friends, that is the last official tomato of 2008!

The tomato over-wintering project was something of a success. By “over-wintering” I mean “ignore almost completely and leave them to their own devices” of course. I didn’t do anything terribly special to protect them from the weather, except for that night we got snow and ice when I did throw a piece of light plastic over them. I barely watered them. And yet, we have had a few really decent tomatoes all winter long. I now know it would be possible, with a minimum amount of effort, to continue to have tomatoes all year long. Oh sure, not a lot of them, but edible tomatoes, fresh off the plant, during winter. The experiment has been a success as far as I am concerned.

Last week, I cut back all the plants that had no tomatoes on them, in preparation for pulled them out when I reworked the dirt in my containers. I am now having second thoughts about killing these plants. Since last week, they have begun sprouting new branches from the dirt line, as has the one with this lonely tomato still dangling on its lifeless branch. Therefore, the Better Boy and Mr. Stripy have both earned a spot in my new garden beds. One of the Sugar Snacks may also get transplanted. It looks awful, but it is still green. Might as well give it a shot too. I was going to start completely fresh with all new plants, but these plants deserve some reward for having made it through several freezings and continuing to produce!

Of course, this is putting a snag in my planting plan. I need both Earthboxes empty and ready for lettuce, carrots, and radishes by this weekend, and my raised beds won’t be ready for planting for a couple of weeks. I think I’ll transplant the two large plants from the Earthbox into large pots and bring them indoors until planting time in the beds. That should keep them from suffering too much root shock, and give them a good chance to recover without having to fight the weather. I’ll just set them on top of the fridge with the seeds I am starting, where I intend to have a lamp set up with a grow bulb.

I’ve also decided the two surviving TAM Jalapeños and the sole surviving banana pepper should be saved as well, provided them show some new growth after I cut them back tomorrow. They too survived freezing temperatures and an erratic watering schedule and have continued to produce. I have about ten peppers on them right now and they look like they want to start blooming again. Awesome!

The garden plan is going well, though I am totally convinced it is too heavy on tomatoes. I may start from scratch again and see if I can come up with something better, especially now that I have plants that need to be worked into the plan. Today’s project though is to clear off the top of the fridge, and tonight I’ll be making the newspaper starter pots. Then this weekend, it’s going to get really busy in my driveway as I get going on soil supplementation, repotting the surviving plants, and starting those seeds!

I am so excited, I can barely contain myself!