Leava,

There's nothing like having everybody go haywired all at once, is there? I hope all your folks are doing better now. I also hope your poor, tired, frazzled brain cells get some rest and stress relief.

You can start seeds in tiny Dixie cups and they'll be fine. I do it all the time, and I often start 15-30 tomato or pepper seeds in one cup. Just pot them up sometime after they have one or two true leaves. You can do it when they have only one true leaf, but I like to wait until they have two because they're a little bit sturdier at that size.

Just relax. Have a cup of herbal tea and take a deep breath and don't worry. They plants will be fine. Remember, too, that we've got your back. : ) So if family medical issues become overwhelming, don't worry too much about tbe tomato plants because all of us who are compulsive tomato seed starters will be bringing all our billions (more or less, maybe less) of extra tomato plants to the Spring Fling and you can take home all you want. Isn't it great knowing we all back up each other's tomato growing efforts in that way? In the overall scheme of things, taking care of your family members and of yourself too is much more important than the tomato plants at this point.

Dawn

thanx dawn for kind and reassuring words.i had 2 precious hours and thought planting would be therapeutic,like an anti stress activity :) i can always count on dirt to make me feel better.

off to drink tea and breathe now......
thanx again
leava

You're welcome.

Normally gardening is stress-relieving except when it is stressing us out because (choose as many as apply):

--the weather suddenly turns too hot
--the weather suddenly turns too cold
--you started seeds too early and have noplace to keep all the plants indoors as they get bigger and bigger
--you're behind on seed-starting and next week is your best planting date....and your seedlings are 1/4" tall
--it is not raining at all and the plants are drying up and dying
--it is raining all the time and the garden is flooded and the plants are drowning
--none of the seeds are sprouting
--all of the seeds are sprouting and there's too many little plants
--you just transplanted all your tomato and pepper plants into the garden and now it is hailing
--you walked outside this morning to the garden and it was full of (choose as many as apply): squirrels, gophers, rabbits, skunks, raccoons, deer and/or armadilloes
--you walked outside to the garden this morning and there is no garden because the wild things ate it all
--you have the best-looking garden you've had in a decade and it gets hit by a mysterious blight that is killing everything
--you've gone totally organic for the first year ever and every insect in the world has shown up in your garden at the same time your in-laws are coming to visit for a week
--you're standing in your unfenced garden and you notice the neighbor's cows are out and running down the road, and are headed straight for you and your garden

Other than the above, gardening is great for relieving-stress. That's why all of us are so calm, cool, collected and never in a panic over anything at all, right?

Dawn

really...seriously, don't worry!!! Keep them close to the light and they will grow...

And like Dawn said, we gotcher back! We ALL know how many Dawn starts and what she brings to the Spring Fling. But I'm afraid I've caught the addition too. This last weekend I started 16 varieties...all at least 15 seeds, some were at least 30. Now I'm not saying that I'll have the wonderfullly healthy looking plants that Dawn brings...but I'd bet I'm going to have a "few" extras. ha! I'm only planning on planting 30 to 40 of any of the ones I started. sheeesh....

Hope everyone's doing okay, but nobody's going to do well if you're not strong enough to take care of them. So rest and breathe....this must have been the month for craziness.

Paula

Oh, poor Leava! I third the motion for tea and relaxation. I hope all get better quickly.

Diane

dawn,i am still laughing out loud over your list and halo,our grumpy old lady cat is objecting at me disturbing her nap of 23 hours duration.

paula and diane,thank you for the support.......i just had tea and little bunny cookies and am better.........

i am telling myself just plant a few cups a week and it will all work out....and i know how generous people are at the swap for sure.i was hoping to have more to bring this time but it may or may not happen.

leava :)

My favorite stress reliever is a hot epsom salt bath.

You're right Dawn. The main reason we first fenced our garden was to keep the neighbor's cattle out. And summer before last I picked a paper grocery sack of green hail-dinged tomatoes for a friend to make chowchow with. And how long has it been, four years, I think that the first Japanese Beetle showed up? Gardening, like aging, isn't for sissies.

Paula, You have to realize the sad, sickly plants stay home as "back up plants" in case hail or some other disaster strikes, and I only bring "the best ones" to the Spring Fling" to give away.

Diane, Speaking of getting better, I hope your infected finger is improving, and I hope the infected finger isn't your green thumb!

Leava, Doesn't it seem peculiar that we often talk about what a stress reliever gardening is but then we forget to mention all the times it brings more stress into our lives? lol I was just trying to provide a balanced view of gardening in case anyone here is laboring under the misguided belief that it is all fun and games. : ) Let's face it, none of us has a Martha Stewart type of estate with a staff of gardeners, landscapers, etc. We all live right here in the southern plains in the Real World!

Dorothy, I second that suggestion! I always buy a bag of Epsom Salts in the springtime "just in case the pepper plants need it" but, really, they never need it....but I do! Gardening, like aging, is not for sissies, you said, and that is so very, very, very true.

The cow incident happened to me 3 or 4 times and then by the time someone came to help me herd cows, they'd totally disappeared without a trace. Wily cows who are good at escaping from a pasture often seem to have an uncanny ability to put themselves up again.

About the 4th or 5th time I saw cows that then disappeared before anyone could get there to help herd them, we figured out they were escaping from a downed fence at Ranch A about 1/2 mile from us as the crow flies (but much farther by road), traveling through Ranch B's pastures, coming through that ranch's broken water gap gate onto our property, and then traveling through our creek until they reached the woods beside the garden.

If the cows hadn't left hoofprints on the creek bank one day, the whole neighborhood probably still would be thinking I was losing my mind and seeing imaginary cows. Rancher A fixed his fence, Rancher B fixed his water gap gate and I haven't been visited by an entire herd of cows since then, although plenty of other animals, including goats, have managed to find their way to my garden. If I didn't have a fence, needless to say, I wouldn't have a garden.

I now know why country women's hair turns gray.

Dawn

Darn, Dorothy, the epsom salts is in the potting shed.

I think we may all have to change the way we garden to cope with the Japanese Beetles. Last year they were terrible for me. The flea bettles were bad too but I covered the eggplant and they stripped the leaves on the hollyhock. It still bloomed but the leaves looked like lace. People kept asking me what it was. LOL

I am so sorry to hear about your family, my prayers are with you and will pray for a speedy recovery.

On a lighter note..I did that last year, they did just fine, when they got mold on the side of the cup I transplanted them into solo cups, and they grew just fine. Don't worry....take care of yourself and get some rest!