I have some exciting news!
After about a month from planting the tomato seeds and nurturing them, they are finally growing...well actually just one seedling is growing currently but I didn't allow that to break my spirit, so I planted some more seeds. Since my little seedling is not that little anymore, I figured it was time to give her more space so I moved her into the big brown pot that I got her a while ago. (Fun fact: Actually, I didn't only move my little tomato seedling, I also moved a regular weed seedling in the same pot as my tomato because I failed to identify the intruder. In my defense, I'm new at this and the weed seedling looked pretty similar to the tomato one. However, as soon as I found out that's a really healthy weed and not a tomato I pulled it out because it's damaging for the tomato.)
So here's how I moved the tomato seedling.
1) I filled the pot with soil, I actually had to go and buy more soil.
I didn't water it this time since I noticed the soil was already pretty damp, wouldn't want to soak my little seedling.
2) I grabbed the seedling's strain and slowly attempted to pull the seedling out of the soil which turned out to be a bad idea so I don't recommend that. Maybe if you are more skilled than me it works though. I however instead recommend doing it the following way. Take some small scissors and carefully cut the cup around the ground to free it.
By the way, it was quite shocking to see how many roots my little seedling has.
3) I then dug a pretty decent hole in the center of the pot (using my fingers which were covered by surgical gloves so the dirt didn't get underneath my nails), and before placing the seedling I separated the two(they were intertwined. Here's how you separate them: it's rather intuitive, you try to "break the soil" - loosen it up somehow and then gently start pulling one of the seedlings. You'll sort of feel which roots it pulls along with it. After that, gently dig your nails in the middle or as close to the roots as you can and separate them- don't worry if some of the roots break, it's inevitable, my seedling got over that pretty soon) and placed the seedling with the soil it had in the hole, then covered it with more soil making sure the seedling is standing pretty firm.
I know, at this point you must be thinking: "How the f*** are they similar Rachel?" And the answer is... I honestly don't know (well besides the fact that they are both green). One of my initial thoughts was: "What if they are different types of tomatoes? What if one of them is a cherry tomato and the other one is a regular tomato? Now I'm thinking, it could've also been my desperate desire to have some tomatoes growing and when anything grew out of there that resembled a tomato I clung to it more than I should have.
Anyhow, here's a useful tip my auntie taught me on spotting weeds from tomatoes (or any other veggies). You rip a little bit of the plant's leaf, twist it between your fingers and they should smell according to what they are. Tomato leaves will smell slightly like tomatoes while the weed will smell like regular grass.
Also, another thing I forgot to mention was that I moved the seedlings about the time when the cup got too crowded, they must've been about 3 inches.
Can't wait to be back with more great news!:)
Wishing you the best,
Rachel
