And so it begins...

Exciting times! It's time those tomatoes and chillies were re-potted again, but this time to their final home outside. So off I went again to the local DIY store, boyfriend in tow, to get the necessary equipment, soil and pots. We also found a net to cover the redcurrants, to protect them from those pesky magpies. But that's just an aside :)

I still had seven small Lemon Drops left, but as my first chili plant had survived the winter and seems to be doing well now and because I also still have a baby Poblano chili waiting to be re-potted I decided to keep only two and find new homes for the rest. I love chillies, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing! And so, under the watchful eye of my (also brand-new) Garden Cosmos, the re-homing began.

 Ta-daa! The chillies in their new home.

And now I needed to do the same with the tomatoes. This time, I kept three plants.

 Trying out the arrangement. The bamboo poles are from my boyfriend's garden and supported beans last year. The pot I had found on Ebay. :)

Looks good, so time to actually plant them. Incidentally, this pot turned out to be a bottomless pit into which almost 15 litres of soil disappeared!

 Aaaand done!

 I hope they'll feel at home here.

And that they produce lots of big, stripy tomatoes! To finish up, I scattered some marigold seeds round the plants as well. This should help keep unwelcome insects away, as well as provide some nice colour.

 The Tumbling Toms are coming along very nicely.

Soon I'll be able to have them in my salad.

What actually happened to those tomatoes and chillies I didn't want to keep? Well, since several of my students had been asking about them, as well as my boss, I packed the remaining plants in my big spaghetti pot to protect them, and took them to work with me. The looks you get when you casually get on a train carrying a pot full of plants! It was quite funny. :) I'm happy to tell you that every plant has found a lovely new home where they'll be well cared for. Now I just need to get my spaghetti pot back... My student took his tomato home in it.

The Storm

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Basically this happened. Winds of up to 150 km/h, torrential rain, thunder and lightning. 150 km/h! That would be 93 mph, or Beaufort 12. Hurricane force, or, as the Beaufort Scale puts it: "Severe widespread damage to vegetation and structures. Debris and unsecured objects are hurled about." And severe widespread damage there certainly was. I returned home from a lovely (if somewhat scorchingly hot) weekend at la casa boyfriend just in time to witness my biggest and scariest storm to date. This was the balcony last Tuesday, the day after the storm:

 A bit ruffled, but otherwise ok.

 Flying leaves and bits of trees everywhere. But Tumbling Tom survived!

 Even the frogs are still there.

 I found random branches in all sorts of corners.

 I managed to clear the blue shelf and the windowsill before anything could go flying, but I did get drenched in the process. It was well worth it though, as absolutely nothing got broken or damaged.

 Just ruffled.

 Trees! On MY balcony!

But that was the extent of the storm damage, as far as the balcony was concerned. On the roads, everything looked a lot different. A lot of grand old trees have simply been uprooted and branches had been snapped off. Most roads were blocked and all public transport was suspended, leaving many folk stranded and unable to return home or go to work. I myself was forced to stay at home on Tuesday and Wednesday. As I write this, public transport is still not back to normal. Quite a few trains aren't running because the tracks are covered in trees or overhead lines are damaged. This makes the journey to work quite an adventure! But as I'm able to get to work at all now, I am certainly not complaining! :)
My neighbourhood:

Doesn't look to good, huh? I really don't know how long it will take to return to normal. Fire brigades, volunteers, the army and the Technisches Hilfswerk (Federal Agency for Technical Relief, THW) have been working round the clock to clear the streets and repair the damage. But the to-do list is long, and many trees are beyond saving. Six people have lost their lives in the storm and its aftermath.
Suffice to say that last week was not a good week here in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Re-potting and making a mess

Lemon Drop on the far left, Tigerella in the middle, tiny Poblano to the right

Three weeks after planting, the Lemon Drop chillies and the Tigerella tomatoes have grown enormously and need to be re-potted. The Poblanos, however, are taking their time. Only two tiny plants have appeared.

tools of the trade

So, after a quick trip to the local DIY store after work, carrying a bag of soil and a 10 kg book bag home on a moving bus (wearing heels!), I was ready to proceed. This is what I used:

• about two dozen biodegradable little pots which will stay with the plant once it moves into a bigger pot
• a tablespoon (to act as a mini shovel)
• good quality all-purpose garden soil
• and, of course, the plants!

 Ready, and eager to move to a new home! These little tomato plants desperately needed more space. Some of their roots had already become entangled.

 The difference in size between the tomatoes and the Poblano chillies is astonishing. I had planted them on the same day! But I haven't given up on my "chocolate chillies" yet.

The Lemon Drops, on the other hand, look a lot healthier than their cousins. It's (hopefully) going to be a hot chilli summer!

 After clearing my living room table and getting everything, including the camera and tripod, ready, my first-ever big re-potting session was about to begin. I was really scared of damaging the roots, they looked so small and fragile! But with the help of my trusty gardening book I think I managed quite well in the end. So here's exactly what I did:-

1. Fill the little individual pots with soil, up to about 1cm below the rim
2. Using your finger, make a hole in the middle of your soil
3. Loosen the soil around the plant with a spoon
4. Carefully move under the plant and lift it out
5. Put the plant in your pre-prepared hole, so that the roots are covered
6. Pat down the soil around the plant, topping up with more if needed, so that the plant is stable
7. Once you've finished re-potting all your plants, carefully water them. I actually used an old spray bottle which creates a fine mist rather than drowning my delicate seedlings in a torrent of water.
8. Put them somewhere sheltered, away from direct sunlight and water regularly! That's it.

 The result of an evening bent over my dining table: 15 Tigerella seedlings and 11 little Lemon Drop seedlings.

 An unholy mess! Soil everywhere :)

 With a bit of luck and lots of sunshine and care, these tiny seedlings SHOULD grow into tall plants full of delicious chillies and juicy tomatoes.

Of course, my balcony would not be able to cope with all these plants, so I've been spending the last week or so taking some to work and distributing them among colleagues, students and neighbours! :)

I think 2014 will be known as the year of the stripy tomato, the year I took dozens of plants on various trains round the Ruhrgebiet to distribute what my boss jokingly called the "Tigerenten-Tomate" (if you're German, you know what he was referring to, if not, look no further than here!)

For more information on the tomatoes and chillies I planted, look here:  Tigerella, here: Lemon Drop and here: Poblano. Have fun! :)

I'm off for a well-earned rest.