These tomato seedlings from October, had grown a little big as my ‘plant tomatoes before the end of October’ deadline had not been met. To ensure their survival at transplant, I:

• hardened them off outside for a week
• placed them in a bucket of water for about ten minutes before planting to hydrate them
• dug them deep into the soil after removing many of the lateral branches and keeping only the top four or so laterals.
•  watered well at planting time
• watered well for the first week and after that the moisture holding capacity of my raised wicking beds set to work

I did loose a few however and replaced them with other mature seedlings from my collection and now all are flourishing. As the roots of the plants were quite small compared to the foliage, it was inevitable that some losses would be incurred. Those that survived produced adventitious roots under the soil. Now in early December flowers and the first fruit can be seen.

Tomato seedlings are very big and needed extra care at transplanting time.

Flowers appearing.

First fruit developing.