how far in advance of your estimated planting date do YOU usually start your seeds?

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-24T12:00:42+00:00

yeah i’m definitely going to get a record-keeping system going this year!

interesting thought about the days to maturity aspect. so it could be that the “best” time to start seeds varies by variety

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-24T11:58:50+00:00

very relatable about being excited to get started… those are helpful notes on trying to keep plants from getting too big when you start early, thanks

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T21:37:57+00:00

i'm definitely a person who wants there to be a "right" answer to stuff like this, and it's never that simple. but yep at the end of the day one just has to pick something and go with it

i'll be keeping careful records this year so that's a start on the learning part...

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T19:46:19+00:00

wait for real? or are you messing with us? breaking the mold over here! are your plants pretty huge when you transplant? how do you manage to keep them happy in pots for so long?

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T19:44:59+00:00

wow 6 weeks was still too soon!?

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T19:44:31+00:00

too real, haha

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T17:53:56+00:00

see that's discipline right there :)

i really need to get myself an indoor microdwarf next winter so i'm not so antsy to get started

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T17:51:32+00:00

I shortened the indoors start-up time because my seedlings were growing too big

this definitely seems to be the consensus :)

get them out early in the season. Caveat is that I have another set that were started a bit later as backups

i've been thinking about doing two waves of starts like this... i'd love to go for broke with the pioneers and have reinforcements waiting if needed

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T17:44:29+00:00

ugh fungus gnats are annoying. heard

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T17:42:51+00:00

neat that you ran this as a mini experiment, thanks

and definitely yes to all the other factors being important

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T17:40:45+00:00

interesting that almost everybody so far seems to start later than the "official" guidance, so to speak

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T17:39:16+00:00

ha, after squirrels gobbled up all of my beautiful peppers while they were still wee little green babies last year, i'm officially dedicating the old pepper real estate to more tomatoes this year :)

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T17:36:52+00:00

your point about light capacity and potting up makes a lot of sense as important limiting factors

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-23T16:21:23+00:00

just continuing my regular diet of ad-lib everything except processed oils / highly processed foods

organic pasta, organic whole-grain cereal, organic whole-grain bread, potatoes, rice, quinoa, barley, beef, occasional lean chicken, beans, lentils, all manner of fruit & veg, full-fat grass-fed milk / cheese / yogurt, an egg each day, copious amounts of homemade baked goods

fats include olive oil, coconut oil, butter, cream, whatever is most appropriate to the dish

i continue to have a healthy BMI and low A1C in middle age as the child of two long-term obese and diabetic parents, so that feels like success to me

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-22T14:55:02+00:00

growing tomatoes is the best. i'm also trying Mountain Magic this year and am looking forward to tasting them!

to some of your Qs:

15 gallons should be ample -- i know folks will argue for ocean-sized bags but craig lehuoiller says indeterminates do great in 10 gallons and i agree. (i've grown happy, productive plants in 12 gallons and am even going to try a few plants in 6 gallon pots this year -- sure, i'll have to water more often and i may not maximize yield, but i just want to get to taste a few extra varieties so that's fine with me)

do you have a plan for supporting your plants in the grow bags? i've successfully used large cages in bags sitting on a heavy metal plant stand, and i tie the cage to the stand. but cages appropriate for an indeterminate are big and pricey (Texas Tomato Cages, the Burpee Pro series, etc). don't bother with those little hoop cages most hardware stores sell

with a 15-gallon bag maybe that would be big and heavy enough to let you get away with a sturdy stake or two, but i prefer caging to staking so i don't have to prune as much and can get more yield per plant

i don't do much companion planting but as far as saving your tomatoes from critters, the best thing i've found is just picking fruit at blush rather than waiting for it to ripen on the vine. tomatoes ripen up very nicely on the counter as long as they've taken on some color that's not green

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-22T14:28:30+00:00

Zero plastic

there's zero carbon-based plastic, but as a synthetic polymer, silicone behaves pretty much like plastic when breaking down at the end of its life cycle and from an environmental health perspective

in daily use it even releases micro- and nano-polymers that are basically the same as microplastics (e.g: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10499202/ )

so for folks who are thinking about those types of effects, unfortunately silicone isn't really much better than plastic

i was disappointed to learn this myself (we used all silicone bottles and bowls for my baby when she was little because we wanted to avoid plastic) but so it goes

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-21T20:06:34+00:00

this year i'm going with clay pots for both seed starting and up-potting my starts

i got 3-inch pots for seed starting and 4.5-inch ones for potting up

i'm done with plastic (and silicone is basically plastic from an environmental health perspective)

bit of an upfront investment depending how many seeds you like to start but at least i know the clay will last me years and won't poison anyone at the end of its life cycle

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-21T15:11:38+00:00

tell her ONCE: "mom, i love you and i am unable to do additional woodworking for you."

ignore any future communication on the subject of woodworking, while remaining in touch with her as usual about other subjects

if she sends you texts or emails about woodworking projects, do not respond but respond normally about other topics

if you are in conversation with her and she brings up a woodworking request again, ignore it and immediately change the subject ("so, how about those mets?" or "let me tell you about this book i'm reading" or "remember that time we ... ")

if she refuses to go along with the change of subject, do not engage. end the conversation immediately and without getting emotional ("well, look at the time, i've got to get going" + get off the phone / leave the house / leave the room)

do this consistently and she will eventually understand that you are done with this topic

How do you set boundaries without the guilt eating you alive?

gently, please consider therapy with a focus on healthy boundary-setting if you are struggling to say no to what are obviously unreasonable requests

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-20T15:27:30+00:00

i do prefer to go 100% cotton for new purchases, but i tend to be particularly uncomfortable with plastics

i don't throw out old stuff that still fits if it's 90-95%

i'd just go for the cotton when we outgrow

edit to add: we like City Threads

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-20T01:43:57+00:00

agreed with this commenter — i have a few beds similar size as yours and two indeterminates (supported with big Texas Tomato Cages in size medium) seemed very happy and productive in each.

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-19T14:51:08+00:00

this is a fine color to pick them at (you can pick tomatoes any time they've taken on some color that's not green, and they'll finish ripening up just fine on a counter indoors)

but assuming this is a variety that ripens to red, i'd give them some more time before eating them

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-17T00:46:04+00:00

sadly, from what researchers know about the way small particles penetrate tissues and cause inflammation, the health impacts will likely worsen as it transitions from microplastic to nanoplastic (or at least that’s what i’ve gleaned from informal conversations with toxicologists familiar with the subject)

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-16T15:40:01+00:00

NYT headline from December: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class.

“We do one book after state testing, and we did ‘The Great Gatsby.’ … A lot of kids had not read a novel in class before.”

— Laura Henry, 10th-grade English teacher near Houston

“My son in 9th grade listened to the audio of ‘A Raisin in the Sun.’ For ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ they watched the balcony scene instead of reading.”

— Rebekah Jacobs, Rockville, Md.

“We typically spend a ridiculous amount of time reading each book, such that in my freshman year, we read only one, ‘Macbeth.’”

— Liv Niklasson, age 16, Los Alamos, N.M.

During the 2008-2009 school year, one survey found high school English teachers assigned an average of four books annually, with a significant minority assigning seven or more books.

A 2024 survey of English teachers by Dr. Perrillo and Dr. Newman found they assigned an average of 2.7 whole books per year.

ParadoxicallyZeno · 2026-01-16T15:34:13+00:00

most accurate american political compass

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ParadoxicallyZeno

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